Co-financed by AFD, FFEM, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, IRD and MNHN, the SEP2D programme supports plant biodiversity initiatives in 22 intertropical countries. It is based on five major focus areas:
Following the selection of 30 projects in 2017, relating to research on plant biodiversity or the promotion of botanical collections, 2018 was devoted to the implementation of these projects, due to be completed in the second semester of 2020.
In June 2016, Expertise France, Campus France, IRD and GIZ (German international cooperation agency) launched the MEET Africa.
A European support scheme for entrepreneurs from the diaspora, the purpose of MEETAfrica is to help 80 graduates from the French and German higher education systems set up a hi-tech or innovation-driven company in the agricultural, industrial or service sector in their home country (Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia). To complete their project, the entrepreneur has access to a maximum budget of €15,000. This programme receives funding of €1.7 million from the European Union Pan-African Programme.
Among the 80 projects selected, 45 Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian project leaders came from the French higher education and research system. IRD is the entity in charge of their supervision.
2018 marked the end of the support provided to project leaders and the preparation for stage 2 of the programme, which will be financed by AFD and GIZ, and will see the number of recipients double.
AMRUGE-CI is a project financed under the Franco-Ivorian cooperation’s Debt Reduction and Development Contract (C2D). A number of high-profile events were organised in 2018, including a feedback workshop on the first phase of the strand dedicated to the building of research capacity and human resources, PreSeD-CI 1, illustrating the role of science in the Côte d’Ivoire society and its contribution to the country’s development effort.
Hi-tech or innovation-driven business projects with a positive impact on society and/or the environment of Côte d’Ivoire are now incubated in France by Bond’innov, and in Côte d’Ivoire by the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University incubator, CR2I, in conjunction with the Innovis Company.