The French Development Agency (AFD) launched the fifth edition of the AFD Digital Challenge on April 28th, 2021. This is a competition that identifies and promotes innovative projects proposed by African start-ups each year with a view to developing the continent and enabling it to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year, the competition’s mission is to highlight digital innovation projects for the protection of the environment, the fight against global warming and the protection of biodiversity, hence the theme “Innovating for climate and biodiversity”.
The targeted structures have until May 26th, 2021 to apply. These are start-ups, associations and research centres on the African continent, which propose innovative solutions to reduce the carbon impact of economic activities, encourage sustainable, participatory and citizen-based management of natural resources and promote sustainable economic activity in line with environmental issues. The 10 best projects will be supported by AFD through an “acceleration pack”, technical support and financing worth 20 000 euros.
AFD commits to protecting biodiversity
On the side-lines of the fifth AFD Digital Challenge, the French Development Agency launched on Wednesday April 28th, 2021 a call for expressions of interest for research on “the transversal integration of biodiversity in economic sectors”. This other call for projects targets universities, research centres, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private foundations located in countries eligible for the Biodev 2030 Facility (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea, Guyana, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam).
Through the simultaneous launch of these two calls for tenders, AFD is affirming its commitment to biodiversity protection. “For AFD Group, the conservation and sustainable development of ecosystems are the drivers of inclusive and sustainable growth. Biodiversity protection must therefore be taken into account in all our activities”, AFD states. In 2019, AFD has committed 457 million euros to biodiversity conservation.
Boris Ngounou