Since 2019, through the FSPIs (Solidarity Funds for Innovative Projects, civil societies, French-speaking countries and human development) the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) has been financing a series of projects designed to support initiatives for academic cooperation between French higher education schools and higher education schools from one of the 37 target countries in Africa*.

France Éducation international was mandated by the MEAE to ensure the management and monitoring of all of these projects grouped under the title ADESFA (Seed Fund to support projects supporting the development of French higher education in Southern and Eastern Africa and the Maghreb).

The ADESFA programme is one of the measures implemented within the framework of the "Bienvenue en France [1] (Welcome to France)" plan, which the government launched in 2019 to enhance the attractiveness of French higher education.

Both the ADESFA 1 and 2 calls for project were very successful. A first series of 17 projects benefited from this funding in 2019, and was closed in December 2020. A new series of 26 projects was selected in April 2020 to be part of the 2^nd ADESFA edition until December 2021.  

In various fields of study (health, mathematics, engineering, information and communication, etc.), these projects make it possible to develop long-term cooperation mechanisms and/or to structure a common educational offer, thereby helping to develop the local higher education offer and improve students' prospects for professional integration. The programme thus aims to make French higher education more attractive in the African continent and develop off-site training leading to a double qualification.

As prime contractor for ADESFA projects, France Éducation international regularly exchanges with the various project leaders in order to support and advise them in their implementation. France Éducation international also facilitates the financial and technical reporting requested by the MEAE, by supporting project leaders in drafting half-yearly activity reports for their projects.

* West and Central African countries: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Namibia, Central African Republic, Senegal, Chad, Togo

Countries of southern and eastern Africa and the Maghreb: South Africa, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Egypt