New EU-Africa funding instruments

2 October 2015. Brussels. CAAST-Net Plus, RINEA Joint Food Security Workshop. CAAST-Net Plus has teamed up with the Horizon 2020 project, Research and Innovation Network for Europe and Africa (RINEA), to host a meeting on “non-traditional approaches” to addressing issues of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (FNSSA).

The event honed in on the role of private sector institutions, non-governmental and philanthropic organisations specifically.

Objectives:

• Attract new funding partners to participate in the new EU-Africa funding instruments.
• Create new network opportunities between EU and Africa and new non-governmental/nontraditional/philanthropic organisations.
• Provide a platform for exchange of ideas and therefore creating learning opportunities.
• Provide an opportunity for participants to explore new possible thematic areas of cooperation in which non-governmental non-traditional/philanthropic organisations focus on food nutrition, security and sustainable agriculture.

The workshop built on the idea of FNSSA as a Grand Challenge. “By definition, Grand Challenges are specific problems or barriers that, if removed, would help solve important problems, with a high likelihood of global impact if such a solution could be widely implemented,” the event concept note explains.

Full concept note
Workshop agenda

Extract of the program: 

• Why is funding of research and innovation (R and I) within FNSSA becoming an increasingly global concern? Dr Mohammed Jeenah Co-Chair HLPD Expert Working Group South Africa 
• What are the gaps and challenges with respect to policy and R and I funding? Ms Judith Francis CAAST-Net Plus Senior Programme Coordinator: Science and Technology Policy Netherlands 
• Lessons learned in forging links and partnerships with private sector organisations within the agriculture sector. Lessons learned from the Edmond de Rotschild Group Mr Martin Perrier Impact and Innovation Manager Edmond de Rothschild Group Switzerland

Background of RINEA

Research and Innovation Network for Europeand Africa (RINEA).

Start: March 2015 

Partners: 

• 7 African: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa 
• 6 European: France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Portugal, United Kingdom 

Budget: 1.9 Mio € for 36 months 

Work packages: 

1. Analyse and monitor biregional STI partnerships and try to support current and future research and innovation partnerships 
2. Facilitate the launch of two new joint calls for proposals targeting European and African programme owners like ERAfrica 
3. Contribute to evidence based outcomes of the HLPD and facilitate implementation of recommendations 
4. Promote EU-Africa STI cooperation as well as RINEA’s activities to a wider STI stakeholder community; assure communication among STI user groups 
5. Management

Related:

5 - 6 October 2015. Bonn, Germany. 2nd Meeting Joint African‐European research and innovation funding partnership. ERAfrica launched the first ever jointly defined and jointly funded call for proposals between Africa and European national funding agencies in 2013. The ERAfrica partnership has begun work towards a second joint call and a possible future ERANET Co-Fund action. Themes: Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) + Resilience

Related:

30 June 2015. PROIntensAfrica contributes to HLPD Roadmap through working groups

The EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) bureau invited coordinators of PROIntensAfrica, CAAST-Net Plus, PAEPARD and RINEA initiatives to a joint meeting in Brussels to discuss their activities and contribute to the implementation of HLPD’s Roadmap.

• The HLPD Bureau is now considering ways to implement the roadmap, building on ongoing related activities for the short to medium-term. Therefore, at their June meeting in Brussels, the coordinators from PROIntensAfrica, CAAST-Net Plus, PAEPARD and RINEA initiatives exchanged information about their objectives and activities. Also, possible support to the initiatives was discussed. 
• In the long term, new funding for these initiatives may come from Horizon 2020 and the Pan African Instruments from DG DEVCO. It was concluded that regular contacts between the initiatives are needed to maximize the efficiency and effectivity of the different programs. The programs around the table agreed to form a ‘soft-platform’ where they can exchange information and align activities.