Funding

Project center costs include those associated with the WPI student educational experience and those for programmatic or infrastructural investments in communities. Costs for the former are funded through tuition as a regular part of the WPI curriculum, as students earn the equivalent of 4.5 courses for their project experience, almost 10% of their graduation requirement. Students also pay for traveling to and living in Cape Town for two months. Funding for project-related community improvements comes from a mix of local partner funding (e.g., government budgets or grants) and grants secured by the CTPC.

CTPC Funding

GE Foundation: WPI gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the GE Foundation for the work of the Cape Town Project Centre. In May 2008, the Chairman and CEO of General Electric Co. and WPI Commencement speaker, Jeffrey R. Immelt, announced a major award in support of student project work with local communities and sponsors in Cape Town. In 2011, the Foundation again made a generous contribution to the CTPC, this time in support of continuing to develop innovative approaches to water, sanitation and hygiene provisioning as a centerpiece of informal settlement upgrading initiatives. This funding continues to support a wide range of initiatives, among them stipends for co-researchers and purchase of materials, supplies and tools needed to build an innovative Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Upgrading (WaSH-UP) facility in Langrug, renovate a community hall in Monwabisi Park, start the Green Light Project and a soup kitchen in Maitland Garden Village, install recreational equipment in a few communities, buy supplies and educational materials for crèches, and support fieldtrips and educational programming for community partners.

Mondialogo Engineering Award: In 2009, a collaborative project between students and faculty of WPI and the University of Cape Town entitled, “Community water and sanitation services for informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa,” was recognized and supported financially through this prestigious international competition.

In addition, the CTPC has helped several of our local partners secure almost a half million US dollars for local projects.

If you wish to contribute to the Cape Town Project Centre, please contact Scott Jiusto (sjiusto@wpi.edu).