The overall objective of ACCLIMATE is to achieve enhanced integrated national and international strategies for climate-resilient, low-emission development. ACCLIMATE will contribute to improving the transparency, consistency, and clarity of GHG emission reduction commitments and create appropriate tools by developing an assessment framework for mitigation commitments. Working in a bottom-up manner with national experts within an international consortium comprising high-emitting countries from the Americas, Asia and Europe, as well as low-emitting countries from West Africa, ACCLIMATE will identify needs for improvements of NDCs and long-term strategies. A focus will be set on adequacy, fairness and feasibility, as well as on needs for improving current policies and measures to actually achieve NDCs and long-term objectives. On this basis, the development of enhanced national strategies and pathways will similarly build on existing scientific national expertise and models, with the development of enhanced pathways for all focus countries being undertaken by the respective partners of the consortium based in these countries, with support from European partners. These pathways will include an increased understanding of the role of ecosystems, non-CO2 gases, and climate impacts and risks, and socioeconomic tradeoffs. The development of enhanced pathways and policy recommendations will build on sectoral deep dives in order to fully capture sector-specific mitigation enablers and barriers. ACCLIMATE will in particular focus on the sectors industry, buildings, AFOLU, transport, and energy supply. ACCLIMATE will enhance the capacity in partner countries to develop and model mitigation strategies and pathways and to analyse and develop respective policy strategies and packages. Furthermore, enhanced strategies will be closely co-created with policy-makers and stakeholders at the national, sectoral and international levels.

The burden of road traffic accidents, their associated traumas and the consequences on public health in low- and middle-income countries are urgent matters to tackle. These concerns have already been discussed in various public debates for a long time, finally leading to an action plan launched in 2011 by the World Health Organisation and the World Bank during the “Worldwide Decade of Global Action for Road Safety”. However, the conclusion today is that there are still huge differences of results among geographical regions. Death rates linked to road traffic accidents are the highest in Africa. They also represent the 8th cause of mortality (all-cause deaths) and the 1st cause of death among 15-29 years old. In western Africa, no specific measure for the reduction of road accidents and traumas has been evaluated until now. TRAFIC project aims to gather a European-African team specialised on the issue of road traffic accidents and traumas, and capable of leading an interventional research, useful for the comprehension and reduction of this burden. The project will tackle the subject in a cross-sectoral manner, from transports to population health. The interdisciplinarity of members of the network will allow to assess each particular situation using diverse methods and approaches and thus provide at the end, the most accurate action plan. The network will focus in the best methods to produce reliable data on accidents and trauma. On this purpose, the network will gather a wide range of academicals’ disciplines: geography of health, public health, transports geography, sociology-anthropology, economy, traumas medical experts, epidemiology and legal experts. In order to enhance its impact on society, the network also aims to be intersectorial with the integration of international and African NGOs, consultants and the private sector in charge of developing innovative technologies of surveillance. All members of the network, both in Europe and Africa, are necessary to study broadly and in a transversal manner the issue of road accidents and their consequences and provide recommendations on best interventions to prioritise. The innovative aspect of the project will be based on a mixed method research, where all methods are used equally in the conclusions analysis. The ambition of the project will be to fill the knowledge-gap on available and reliable data, and add a knowledge-do on how to reduce road traffic traumas. In order to achieve this, the network will concentrate its efforts in conceiving and developing surveillance systems of accidents and traumas, together with knowledge exchange between members. TRAFIC project is aiming to submit a MSCA-RISE proposal by april 2019 which will be a trigger to share knowledge, disseminate results and good practices, to enhance and build capacity of academical colleagues from research Institutes and universities in Africa, but also to reinforce the collaboration with non-academic partners (consultants and NGOs) in order to maximise the dissemination impact towards policy actors and society.

The overall objective of Joint AQ Africa is to contribute to the harmonization of higher education in Africa by setting up comparable quality assurance systems, defined by the cooperation of national authorities and HEI. The project will engage three pilot countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire), in the development of a model for university institutional and programme level evaluation, based on a joint and complementary approach (national/regional/African continental) in order to inspire joint accreditation in French-speaking Africa, in particular. The methodology involves several stakeholders in this process and ultimately addresses the different gaps that exist in the various countries targeted, in terms of consolidating their QA and accreditation systems:a)Ministries and QA agencies and their capacities to agree on a common model for joint assessment;b)Universities and their abilities to assess their performance against these standards and to build their own internal QA processes;c)The main networks and associations for higher education and quality assurance in Africa, and their capacities to work collectively in the region and internationally, and to promote and apply similar approaches to other African countries and regions.The main outputs will be the development of a joint evaluation model, guidelines for its execution and six pilot evaluations. African partner universities will build capacity for self-assessment, through training for quality assurance staff. Training is also offered to the staff of ministries, and spaces are created whereby ministries and universities co-create approaches and build trust towards their respective QA systems. Through CAMES and important associated partners, awareness will be raised at the political level on the importance of the consolidation of a regional accreditation approach, which can serve systems which do not yet have QA agencies and can put forward mutual recognition of accreditation decisions.

The actions address urgent issues surrounding ticks as disease vectors, focusing on Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, within the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Ticks pose significant challenges to ecosystems, economies, and public health, particularly as climate change exacerbates environmental dynamics. Therefore, tackling ticks' impact becomes crucial, including the development of early warning and monitoring systems and the creation of affordable, user-friendly diagnostics. Proactive actions are necessitated as climate-driven shifts are reshaping disease landscape. We seek to enhance resilience against these challenges by establishing a dedicated network focused on understanding tick species, pathogens, and their interactions within the SSA context. Leveraging advanced molecular ecology methodologies, statistics, and cutting-edge technologies, the initiative will establish baseline data for early warning systems and develop point-of-care devices, integrating them into One Health approaches. Additionally, it endeavours to create predictive models for both tick abundance and disease prevalence. ResTick underscores the critical role of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing these challenges. By bringing together experts from various fields, including molecular biology, ecology, veterinary science, epidemiology and diagnostic assay development, the initiative aims to generate essential tools for managing tick populations and mitigating the spread of tick-borne diseases as integration of scientific findings into practical applications is a key priority for ResTick. Through knowledge dissemination and implementation of innovative prevention strategies, we aim to safeguard public health, support sustainable animal farming, and promote economic vitality in SSA. Through coordinated efforts and cross-border cooperation, ResTick seeks to enhance resilience and fortify societal response to the complex challenges posed by ticks and tick-borne diseases in SSA.