Collaborations

SpeechBase Website

Project Design & Aims

SpeechBase follows the outcomes of the completed PAGEL project “Knowledge Transfer by Global Unity - Multilateral East African-German Partnership in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)” from 2015-2018 and aims to establish an infrastructure for academic speech therapy in training and clinical practice. The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

As the University of Pretoria in South Africa, we became a new partner to SpeechBase in order to complement the existing partnerships with Kenyatta University Nairobi, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi (both Tanzania) with a further clinical perspective on AAC. In South Africa, specifically, there is a collaboration between the Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology Department and the Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Formal collaboration with MUHAS, Leibniz Universität Hannover, and Kenyatta, in addition to SpeechBase Project, has also been established.

A web platform is developed for the implementation of speech therapy infrastructure which aims to offer a database for teaching and research material for Speech-Language Therapy. Meanwhile, different to established databases from the anglo-American context, this web platform is developed through the culture-specific and regional adaptation of the local project teams. Additionally, SpeechBase aims to develop study modules with basic content of speech-therapeutic practice for culturally and regionally sensitive implementation in existing academic programs in the fields of ENT, Paediatrics, and Special Needs Education. The implementation of training for field-relevant capacity building is a continuous task of the project.

Project Management & Team in South Africa

Team leader:

• Prof Juan Bornman

Members of the team:

• Ms Petria Liebenberg
• Ms Sthembiso Ncube
• Mrs Bathobile Ngcobo
• Prof Jeannie van der Linde

Project Funding & Duration 

Funding:

• DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), PAGEL

​Duration:

• 2022-2023