EU-Africa Collaboration in STI week

Melissa Plath and Eva Kagiri represented UniPID in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a week full of events focusing on EU-Africa collaboration in Science, Technology, and Innovation. Starting with a CAAST-Net Plus meeting with the Regional Economic Communities, Science Academies and ERAfrica, the week continued with a meeting of the EU-Africa High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology, and Innovation, followed by a Stakeholder Forum on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture, and ending with the yearly college-to-college meeting between the African Union Commission and the European Commission.

Melissa Plath and Eva Kagiri represented UniPID in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a week full of events focusing on EU-Africa collaboration in Science, Technology, and Innovation. Starting with a CAAST-Net Plus meeting with the Regional Economic Communities, Science Academies and ERAfrica, the week continued with a meeting of the EU-Africa High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology, and Innovation, followed by a Stakeholder Forum¨on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture, and ending with the yearly college-to-college meeting between the African Union Commission and the European Commission.

CAAST-Net Plus Meeting with RECs, Science Academies, and ERAfrica

CAAST-Net Plus held its second workshop with Africa’s Regional Economic Communities, inviting the Science Academies and the ERAfrica Initiative to discuss their roles in the EU-Africa science landscape and to identify synergies and areas for possible collaboration. The meeting is the second in a series, the first having taken place in Pretoria in February and the next planned for the end of June 2016.

Meeting of the HLPD

The third meeting of the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation was also held, where the Roadmap towards a jointly funded EU-Africa Research & Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture was adopted. The conclusions from the meeting demonstrate the committement of the HLPD to the Partnership, the Roadmap, and its joint implementation. Additionally, future orientations of cooperation with a focus on global health and global change were welcomed, with a proposal to be sumbitted by 2017. 

Stakeholder Forum on FNSSA

Stakeholders from Europe and Africa met for the EU-Africa Stakeholder Forum on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. The aim of the forum was to foster the engagement of actors across the Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) value chain and explore concrete short-, medium-, and long-term investments and implementation of the Africa-EU Research and Innovation Partnership on FNSSA.

The outcomes of the forum made clear that this partnership must include a broad spectrum of partners in order to ensure the broad implementation of the Roadmap. An inclusive research agenda, using a multi-stakeholder approach, is needed to ensure the relevance for all stakeholders. The forum also re-confirmed the need for financing from a broad range of funders – such as the public sector, private sector, foundations, etc. – to ensure the implementation of the Roadmap.

The impact of the Stakeholder Forum will be seen in the weeks and months to come as the concrete steps for implementing the Partnership are brought forward. Nevertheless, the event can already be seen as a success for its substantive contribution to the Partnership. 

Photo credits: CAAST-Net Plus 2016 on Flickr and Melissa Plath