The call for projects from the French Development Agency (AFD) aims to strengthen the resilience of food systems by supporting the plant protein sector in the Great Green Wall countries. The African Union (AU) launched this initiative in 2007 with the aim of developing a long vegetal corridor 15 km wide crossing the entire African continent over 7,800 km and passing through 11 countries, including the Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.
In a context marked by the rapid advance of the Sahara Desert, several development financing institutions have promised, on the side-lines of the One Planet Summit in January 2021, to provide funds for the realization of this reforestation initiative. The AFD has decided to devote 600 million euros to this initiative. Its recent call for projects is in line with this commitment.
The subsidy of three projects
It concerns civil society organizations and other non-profit organizations. The proposed projects will support the production of products such as cowpeas, soybeans, peanuts, etc. According to AFD, this project aims to address issues of food security, nutrition, the fight against land degradation and the prevention of conflicts related to natural resource management. These agricultural sectors also represent major economic opportunities for family farms, local processing companies and job creation in rural Sahelian areas.
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The French financial institution has a budget of 8 million euros which will be divided into three lots. The Western Window of the initiative covers Mauritania, Mali and Senegal, with a budget of €3 million. With a similar budget, the Central Window covers Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Nigeria. The countries in the Eastern Window, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti, will have a budget of €2 million. Only one project will be selected per window.
“The selected non-profit organizations will then be invited to continue the appraisal, in close contact with the AFD project team leader, and will submit a final project note. This final and complete proposal will have to integrate the possible elements resulting from a dialogue with the designated project team leader at AFD and will allow him/her to submit the project to the validation bodies of the agency’s competitions”, says AFD. Projects will then be implemented over a 36-month period. The call for projects is open until 18 April 2022.
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Jean Marie Takouleu