Boosting Agricultural Studies in Sub-Sahara AfricaAccording to numerous authors, agriculture and farming are a major source of livelihood in the countries of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), contributing between 15 % and 40 % of the gross domestic product, providing livelihood for over 70% of SSA population through family farming and employing at least 34% of the active workforce with its potential heavily underexploited. One of the reasons are poor connections between tertiary education as the knowledge base and immediate agricultural producers (farms). Furthermore, according to various authors, gender is an important factor in understanding every aspect of agricultural and rural development in SSA. Women are essential to agricultural production but they lack adequate access to land and inputs, they tend to be excluded from decision-making and have less chances of accessing tertiary education, along with so many poverty-stricken individuals coming from remote areas.BASIS addresses the aforementioned issues by introducing interventions in higher education curricula towards a more field-based and competence-oriented knowledge and skills highly valued at the labour market. This will establish lasting and systemic exchange between the tertiary education and smallholder farmers in SSA. Likewise, BASIS introduces mechanisms and measures to increase access to tertiary education for women and poverty-stricken individuals from remote areas, and provide them with more equitable chances of employment and growth. Project outcomes will create opportunities for further innovation and modernization of higher education and agricultural production in SSA, equipping higher education institutions, their staff and students with different social and economic background, as well as smallholders in remote rural areas with essential mechanisms for sustainable advancement and growth.

Although many people think of agriculture as low tech and innovation field, those involved in agricultural education or industry know that it’s actually quite the opposite – year on year new solutions and efforts are being made towards bridging the gap between the real life and classroom in agricultural field that change the life of students, farmers and entrepreneurs across the world. More and more farmers are turning to data science to make informed decisions using precision technologies. However, this kind of initiatives are much less (if any) observed in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that severely lags behind in their development despite the fact that most people are engaged in small farming as primary economic activity. In addressing this imbalance, CHAIN steps up the agricultural innovation and collaboration potential in SSA targeting engagement of teaching and non-teaching university staff, agricultural students, farmers and industry representatives. It introduces a more holistic and human-centred approach to agricultural education, training and innovation in the region through: developing a master program in Food Value Chain (FVC) at beneficiary HEIs; building teacher capacity at beneficiary HEIs to use promote learning methods and use teaching methodology prone to entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, with emphasis on e-learning and digital tools; and establishing Collaborative Holistic Agriculture Innovation Nests offering support to innovation initiatives of students, farmers, and entrepreneurs. While on immediate impact level the project brings modernized curricula prone to innovation and increased employability of students, CHAIN in the long run fosters efforts around food safety and security in targeted African countries and communities, by developing and promoting “careers of the future,” in the agricultural sector. It thus provides impetus to tackling some of the core global developmental issues including production of more food with less inputs,

French-speaking partnership composed of 5 universities of West Africa (Ivory Coast and Togo), 5 universities in the member states of the EU (France, Romania and Belgium) and networks such as CIRUISEF, AUF, CDUS and CAMES. The PULSE project targets two objectives for the students: support the continuation of studies in Master’s degree at the international level, and encourage professional integration for license graduates. It will involve innovative hands-on teaching supported by shared digital resources and strong links with businesses. This will be carried out through two types of actions:-The implementation of practical exercises (TP) with digital support in the African universities. The selected experiments will illustrate the laws of physics, chemistry and biology, and will use new digital tools for the phases of preparation, revision and edition of reports. In the first year of licenses, these TP of numerical simulations will replace the real TPs, and in the 2nd and 3rd years, they will provide support for the realization of the experiments. Digital tools will help rationalize the time of the students and teachers, and optimize the use of equipment and rooms. The real TPs will be implemented with easy maintenance equipment. The teachers will be trained and will ensure the durability of these practical exercises. -The creation of digital resource platforms that will be modular and mutualisable. In addition to academic disciplinary modules, transversal professionalization modules will be developed in collaboration with local businesses. A template module will include courses, assessment activities and multimedia resources. A digital manual (toolkit) based on the project results will be developed and disseminated on the international scale, to help universities to duplicate the resources and use them on their own curricula.

With a burgeoning population across Africa, characterized by a significant youth demographic, the challenge of youth unemployment persists, exacerbated by limited opportunities in the formal sector. The informal economy absorbs the majority of new entrants, offering precarious and low-quality jobs. In response, the STREAMING project aims to develop strategies for fair, healthy, and environmentally sustainable food systems across the continent. By fostering connections between basic research and practical implementation, STREAMING seeks to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among various target groups, including women, researchers, students, and farmers. Through networking platforms, innovation hubs, startup scouting, and training programs, the project aims to bridge academia-industry gaps and promote the adoption of sustainable practices and technologies in African food trade systems. Additionally, with a focus on policy analysis and recommendation, STREAMING aims to inform trade policies in Africa and Europe, with an emphasis on removing non-tariff barriers to trade and enhancing resilience against external challenges such as climate change. By integrating stakeholder perspectives, empirical research, and innovative solutions, STREAMING strives to contribute to the establishment of fair, healthy, and environmentally friendly food systems continent-wide.