NEEMA

The project will train professors, decision makers and other relevant stakeholders to deliver more effective public policies on sustainable agriculture development and enhance the capacities of participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to be changemakers.

The project also aims to improve participating HEIs’ capacities to support national FNR policies by designing and implementing one social innovation pilot initiative in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal. The project will strengthen cooperation between participating HEIs and European food and nutrition partners including universities, European Technology Platforms and selected clusters, by identifying synergies and common EU–West Africa research, development and innovation challenges.

The project will be implemented by the NEEMA consortium, established in June 2021 and made up of 14 HEIs from Africa (8) and Europe (6), with the participation of leading universities from the Ulysseus Alliance. 

The main outcomes of the project will be

• a new and adapted FNR curricula
• a FNR Social Innovation Pilot Model
• the development of the NEEMA Strategy and Action Plan on FNR challenges in the WA-Sahel region, and
• the creation of a Regional FNR training and research Network.

The project will contribute to strengthening and modernising the eight participating African HEIs through generation and transfer of new knowledge, adapted to local needs.