The Africa PID Alliance (APA) is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service focused on developing open research infrastructure to digitize and preserve indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage across Africa.

This collaboration will support the Library’s efforts in improving data management systems for indigenous knowledge while providing the technical infrastructure needed to make these valuable resources discoverable and accessible within the global research ecosystem

“This partnership is a step forward in building the open research infrastructure that African institutions need to properly preserve and share indigenous knowledge,” remarked Joy Owango, Africa PID Alliance project lead.

“Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service is excited to partner with the Africa PID Alliance and see this as an important enabler for strengthening our dual vision of preserving knowledge as well as making it available to the widest possible global audience”, remarked Mimi Seyffert-Wirth, Director: Scholarly Communication and Marketing at Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service.

This partnership demonstrates Africa’s growing leadership in developing homegrown solutions for research infrastructure challenges. Rather than relying solely on systems designed elsewhere, the Africa PID Alliance – Stellenbosch collaboration exemplifies how African institutions are creating sustainable frameworks that respect local knowledge systems while making them interoperable with global research infrastructures.

About Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service

Stellenbosch University is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Starting out as Victoria College, the university received full university status in 1918. The Library and Information Service’s history dates back to 1895, starting out as a small reading room. Today the Library and Information Service supports the University’s vision of being Africa’s leading research-intensive university, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive and innovative, where we advance knowledge in service of society. To this end the Library provides rich digital and print collections and communal learning spaces to cultivate a learning and research environment.

For more information on Stellenbosch University Library visit: https://library.sun.ac.za.

About Africa PID Alliance

The Africa PID Alliance is dedicated to securing the future of African innovation, indigenous knowledge, and cultural heritage. Through the provision of reliable open research infrastructure services, the alliance enables access to knowledge and metadata about digital objects, with a strong emphasis on Africa’s unique contributions to global research.The Africa PID Alliance is the Open Infrastructure program of the Training Centre in Communication

For more information on APA visit: https://africapidalliance.org/