Dr. Yawson accomplished his Ph.D. degree in Water Resources Engineering in 2002 at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania under DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) sponsorship by developing a Decision Support System for the Rufiji River Basin in Tanzania. In fact, three tool-boxes were developed from the research for the basin. He had his M.Sc. degree in Water Resources Engineering from the same university (1995-1997) under The Netherlands Government fellowship. He helped in creating a hydrological database in the Department of Water Resources Engineering (WRED) of the university that included data from Tanzania, some of the Nile Basin countries, the SADC region through the Southern FRIENDS project that WRED (then the Water Resources Engineering Programme - WREP) was a partner.

He had been a hydrologic modeller and been involved in the World Bank-funded project of River Basin Management and Small Holder Irrigation Improvement Project (River Basin Management Component) IDA CD 2900 TA - A Study of Hydrological Phenomenon and Floods and Drought Studies in the Pangani and Rufiji Basins (RBMSIIP) in Tanzania (1998-1999); the DFID-funded project of Sustainable Management of the Usangu Wetland and its Catchment (SMUWC) in Tanzania (1999-2000); and IUCN Eastern Africa Regional Office-funded project of Flood Warning System for the Lower Rufiji River in Tanzania (2000-2002). His B.Sc. degree was in Civil Engineering and hence his qualifications are civil engineer and hydrologist.

He joined IWMI in 2002 and was based in IWMI's Pretoria Office. At IWMI, he was involved in the Olifants Benchmark Basin work (basin modelling and up-scaling), the RIPARWIN Project (DFID-funded) in Tanzania, CEEPA-GEF Project (World Bank-funded) on Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture in Africa, and many others.

Currently, he is coordinating this KYB Project since 2005.