NEEMA-Project

Adapting the European Green Deal to Enhance Food Security in West Africa

The NEEMA project, named after the word for "food" in the Senegambian language Fula, aims to adapt the conceptual framework of the European Green Deal (EGD) and the Farm-to-Fork Strategy (F2F) to the specific conditions of the Sahel region and West Africa. The project's hypothesis is that these European strategies, without adaptation, could have negative impacts on food and nutrition security in these regions, particularly for the most vulnerable populations.

The project pursues several key objectives:

1. Development of a Contextualized Curriculum: A new curriculum for Food and Nutrition Resilience (FNR) will be developed, aligning the EGD and F2F Strategy with the needs of West Africa. In addition, professors, policymakers, and relevant stakeholders will be trained to promote more effective public policies for sustainable agricultural development and to strengthen the capacities of the participating higher education institutions (HEIs).
2. Strengthening HEI Capacities: By implementing a social innovation pilot initiative in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, the capacities of the involved HEIs will be enhanced to support national FNR policies.
3. Promoting International Collaboration: Collaboration between the participating HEIs and European partners in the areas of food and nutrition security will be intensified. This will be achieved by identifying shared research, development, and innovation challenges between the EU and West Africa.

The NEEMA consortium, established in June 2021, consists of 14 higher education institutions - eight from Africa and six from Europe, including leading universities from the Ulysseus Alliance. The project's key outcomes include a new FNR curriculum, a social innovation model in the FNR field, the development of the NEEMA strategy, and the creation of a regional FNR training and research network.

By generating and transferring new, locally adapted knowledge, the NEEMA project, with the participation of the MCI research team, will significantly contribute to the strengthening and modernization of the participating African HEIs, thereby promoting sustainable development and food security in the WA-Sahel region.