SARF funds to upskill women civil engineers at metros

Delivering on its training mandate, the South African Road Federation (SARF) recently received donor support from the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering to upskill 75 female civil engineers, technologists or technicians from across South Africa’s eight metros.

SARF’s online training programme entails a suite of four technical course modules specifically chosen to provide practitioners with a broad understanding of the skills needed to optimally design, construct and maintain surfaced and unsurfaced roads. These course modules are accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa in terms of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) criteria.

The four interrelated course modules comprise:

• Module 1: Introduction to Road Materials Engineering

• Module 2: Gravel Road Design, Construction and Maintenance

• Module 3: Design and Construction of Surface Treatments

• Module 4: Urban Stormwater Management, Design and Construction.

“Due to the demand, we decided to increase the number to 90 delegates in total, with SARF covering the additional cost thanks to the annual funding provided by our members,” explains Basil Jonsson, operations director at SARF, which is a BBBEE Level 1 non-profit company.

The training programme commenced in November 2022 with the launch of the Introduction to Road Materials Engineering module. The second course commenced at the end of January 2023, with training on all four modules scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2023.

“The interest from the metros has been overwhelming, with excellent feedback from course delegates. From SARF’s perspective, it’s very rewarding to be able to add value to the development of municipal engineering excellence,” Jonsson concludes.