The project was initiated by the respective UNESCO Chairs of the two universities. Dr Makarius C.S. Lalika holds a UNESCO Chair on Ecohydrology and Transboundary Water Management at SUA. Referring to the chair ́s mission to intensify international cooperation with countries of the global south, the institution is entrusted with further activities to integrate the program´s findings into academic curricula. In many instances, the UNESCO networks and UNESCO chairs serve as think-tanks and bridge-builders between academia, civil society, local communities, research and policy-making. The mutual mobility exchange serves as an important bridge-building element for fulfilling their tasks in the UNITWIN network.

The aim of the two-year Erasmus International Credit Mobility project includes the mutual teaching visits in the respective educational programmes of the universities (CUAS: Master Programme Management of Conservation Areas; SUA: Training on Ecohydrology and Nature-based Solutions for Water Management), which lead to sustainable knowledge exchange on both sides. Experiencing innovative and experimental didactics is an integral element of the project. Previously, mutual discussions revealed the need for action in the area of developing a transboundary geopark in Tanzania, which was entrusted to the SUA UNESCO Chair. Based on the many years of experience of the CUAS UNESCO Chair in the development of protected areas, the exchange will be of decisive importance for knowledge transfer.

The substantive focus of the exchange refers to the following topics: protection of the environment and the sustainable management of natural resources (water, protection of biodiversity); participatory approaches for the development of protected areas. The protection of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources are global challenges that can only be solved with more interdisciplinary and international cooperation. The results of the Erasmus mobility project will directly contribute to capacity building in the academic and institutional sector. This ensures the further development of the universities by learning from and with each other.