CAAST-Net

The Network for the Coordination and Advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa-EU Science and Technology Cooperation is a joint Africa-Europe project that kicked off in Entebbe, Uganda, in February 2008. Supported under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), via the Directorate General for Research and Development, the 3 million euro project is aimed at advancing bi-regional cooperation in the field of science and technology. CAAST-Net is one of six INCO-Nets (or networks for International Cooperation); the remaining five are bi-regionally situated in Europe and: the Western Balkans (WBC-INCO-NET), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (INCO-NET EECA), the Mediterranean (MIRA), South East Asia (SEA-EUNET), and Latin America (EULARI-NET).

History

The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership, endorsed at the 2007 Africa-EU Summit in Lisbon (8 and 9 December), is a “political vision and roadmap” for future social, political and economic cooperation between the two regions. The Lisbon summit was the second major Africa-EU meeting since the Africa-EU Summit in Cairo, in 2000, where it was agreed to institutionalise dialogue between the two regions. Improved dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Africa in science and technology specifically, are therefore two of the pillars supporting the increasingly diverse relationship between the two regions, and are strands running both through the joint strategy and its first action plan. Against the background of a global consensus that capacity in science and technology is an essential pre-requisite to economic growth and competitiveness, sustainable development and poverty reduction, as well as pivotal to the achievement of the Millenium Development Goals, CAAST-Net was developed as a high-level platform to advance international dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Africa for mutual benefit. A total of eighteen partner organisations (ten from Africa, eight from the European Union) make up the CAAST-Net Consortium. They are the:

• Africa Unit, Association of Commonwealth Universities, United Kingdom

• International Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany

• Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, France

• Research Research (Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., South Africa

• Ministry of Science and Technology, Kenya

• Ugandan National Council for Science and Technology, Uganda

• Ministry of Science and Technology, Rwanda

• The Research Council of Norway, Division for Strategic Priorities, Norway

• Department of Science and Technology, South Africa

• Finnish Universities’ Partnership for International Development (on behalf of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Finland

• Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, Sweden

• Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, France

• Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research, Madagascar

• Ministry of Education, Sport and Science, Ghana

• Direcção Geral de Ensino Superior e Ciência, Cape Verde

• Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation, Cameroon

• Ministère de la Recherche Scientifique, Sénégal

• Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnnologia, Portugal

Project Fact Sheet

References

1. Network for the Coordination and Advancement of Sub-Saharan Africa-EU Science and Technology Cooperation, 1 August 2008.

2. The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership: A Joint Africa-EU Strategy, 1 August 2008.

3. The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership: A Joint Africa-EU Strategy, 1 August 2008.

External links

CAAST-Net
CAAST-Net http://www.caast-net.org

INCO-Nets
INCO-NET EECA http://www.inco-eeca.net/
EULARINET http://www.s2lat.eu/eularinet
MIRA http://www.miraproject.eu
SEA EU-NET - http://www.sea-eu.net/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEA-EU-NET
WBC INCO-NET http://www.wbc-inco.net/object/news/list