Themba Gumbo
Director
Bekithemba (Themba) Gumbo is a Civil Engineer and holds a PhD in water and sanitation. He is a national from Zimbabwe, permanently resident in South Africa since 2001. He was trained in Zimbabwe, England and the Netherlands.
He has more than 20 years of working experience, firstly, during the late 1980’s early 1990’s where he worked for the City of Bulawayo as a water and sewerage engineer. He joined the University of Zimbabwe as a lecturer in 1995. During his ongoing tenure in academia he has been a lecturer, visiting researcher, and external examiner at various institutions and universities in southern Africa. He has published widely in water and environmental management.
In 2004 he worked for the Training and Instructional Design Academy of South Africa (Tidasa) a consulting company based in Pretoria, South Africa. In the beginning of 2005 he joined WaterNet as a Manager, a network affiliated to Cap-Net comprising of 60 university departments, training and research institutes in 17 countries of Southern and Eastern Africa working together to build and strengthen capacity in integrated water resources management.
Before joining Cap-Net in 2011, Dr Gumbo held the position of Project Manager for a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) regional water demand management (WDM) programme being implemented by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
His passion is on networking, capacity development and empowering young people to take-up a carrier in water and environmental engineering and management.
Damian Indij
Capacity Development Specialist
Since 2002, I have been an integral part of Cap-Net. As the coordinator of Cap-Net’s Virtual Campus I have spearheaded the development of partnerships for over 150 online courses, delivered in multiple languages and covering a wide range of topics, reaching more than 30,000 participants globally. Additionally, I have developed capacity needs assessments, training manuals, network management tools, and collaborative programmes that advance sustainable water practices worldwide. I also served on Cap-Net’s management board during the periods 2008-2010, 2012, and 2013-2014, contributing to strategic decision-making and governance.
From 2002 to 2018, I served as Manager of LA-WETnet, the Latin America Water Education and Training Network, positioning it as a leading regional platform for water capacity development. Under my leadership, we delivered 85 in-person courses across 15 countries in collaboration with over 100 partner organizations, training more than 3,000 participants, 41% of whom were women.
In Argentina, I am a guest lecturer at Universidad de San Andrés, teaching undergraduate, postgraduate, and extension courses. My academic background includes a degree in Business Administration, a master’s in education, and a Postgraduate degree in Non-Profit Organization Management.
