The fifth unit 2-3 training was held at HartRAO. Thirty-nine (39) participants, five (5) from Botswana, ten (10) from Madagascar, ten (10) from Mozambique, four (4) from Namibia and five (5) from Zambia, all completed the four week observational and technical training. The purpose of the training was to help the next generation of researchers in the African partner countries to understand and learn more about the technical details of Radio Astronomy and VLBI systems and to inspire them in their future careers in Radio Astronomy.

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Participants from all countries showed a keen interest in astronomy and specifically radio astronomy. Most of the participants come from a physics or related field and a few participants indicated that they had some basic astronomy background. The basic training in Linux and Python, prior to the astronomy training, provided most of the participants with the needed skills to complete all relevant tasks with more confidence.

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This training event was co-sponsored by the EU 'Jumping JIVE' project which is facilitating and supporting the participation of expert lecturers from multiple EU institutes in the DARA programme. This EU project is also funding a number further opportunities for training and education in both Africa and the EU.  The JUMPING JIVE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730884