In Southern Africa, multi-sectoral cooperation to address the challenges in the region

Southern Africa stands out for the diversity of its economic, social and environmental realities. While youth represent almost 60% of its population, the importance of issues related to the education, employment and economic empowerment of youth to ensure sustainable growth are among national development priorities. This is also the case for the preservation of ecosystems threatened by climate change, in a region severely affected by its effects.

A few months ago, Expertise France deployed a regional representative to AFD’s Regional Office in Johannesburg to strengthen its presence in the region. From 29 January to 2 February, Jérémie Pellet went to Angola, South Africa and Mozambique to meet the agency’s partners and discuss new avenues for development.

In Angola, supporting and training young people to boost the formal economy

Expertise France supports the professional development of young people and the strengthening of the higher education sector, to ensure a better match between the qualifications of young workers and market expectations.

In this respect, since 2018, it has been implementing the project RETFOP (Revitalização do Ensino Técnico e da Formação Profissional), alongside the Camões Institute and with European Union financing. This project aims to upgrade vocational education in Angola to ensure that the country has a skilled workforce to meet the needs for its economic development. This support aims to strengthen the vocational training steering and coordination mechanisms with increased private sector participation, as well as the capacities of public training centres to provide quality training tailored to the needs of the labour market.

In Angola, higher education is a priority set out in the 2025 Angola Strategy and in the National Development Plan. The UNI.AO programme, which focuses on post-master’s higher education, meets the need to train senior executives so as to support the development and diversification of Angola’s economy. In this context, Expertise France has been working since 2020 to strengthen the professionalism of training and promote strong ties between universities and companies. The objective is to ensure that there is a better match between training provision and the job market. The programme is working on the governance aspect, through support to the Ministry of Higher Education, as well as on specialisation, by assisting the creation of Master’s degrees and Doctorates in high-potential areas for the economy. It is also working to improve access to companies and links with them, to ensure more equitable access to the labour market and that the training better matches business needs. To date, 25 universities have benefited from capacity building for training and vocational integration (technical assistance). 109 staff members from these universities have benefited from capacity building in terms of competences and knowledge on these subjects.
 

In South Africa: Anti-money laundering, biodiversity protection, and culture

In South Africa, Expertise France is involved in several regional projects, together with the cooperation agencies from Germany (GIZ) and Northern Ireland (NICO).

These projects include the CFT/AML Global Facility, financed by the EU. Launched locally in 2022, it aims to promote cooperation and help partner countries establish effective frameworks to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, in compliance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the recommendations of the EU and the Financial Action Task Force (GAFI). In South Africa, the Global Facility has enabled the appointment of a focal point responsible for national coordination: the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) which performs this function with a mandate to make the South African financial system intolerant to abuse.

Since 2023, South Africa has been involved in exchanges in the context of the CRIMARIO II project launched in 2020. This project aims to strengthen maritime safety and security in the Indo-Pacific region by enhancing maritime domain awareness through information sharing, capacity building and training.

South Africa, a pioneer in fighting against damage to biodiversity, is home to 10% of the flora and 7% of the fauna in the world and the sector provides it with major economic benefits (including more than 400,000 jobs and recognised ecosystem services). Among the initiatives developed for biodiversity protection, Expertise France has lent its expertise to South Africa through the Post-2020 project, which aimed to prepare the COP15 agreements on biological diversity. One of the outcomes of this project was the organisation of a study visit to Europe by a South African delegation in 2023. This visit included a presentation of the design and implementation of the European Green Deal. It highlighted the central role of the private sector in its implementation, with relevant initiatives at EU level and on the organisation of the private sector.

In addition, Expertise France is contributing to strengthening Cultural and Creative Industries by supporting the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Hub. An international technical expert is working on this, in cooperation with Wits University, to support digital innovations and artistic productions conceived in Johannesburg.

Expertise France also deploys international technical experts in the country, in the fields of basic education, waste management, marine science, and climate change. 

In Mozambique, culture and health to help people live better together

In keeping with European programming, Expertise France has been implementing the Cultiv’Arte project since late 2023. The overall objective is to contribute to strengthening the national cultural sector. It involves improving the technical, scientific, entrepreneurial and digital expertise of actors in the cultural sector, through an incubation programme with Ideialab, helping to build networking between the EU National Institutes for Culture and the Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre, and supporting development and structuring opportunities for entrepreneurs in the CCI sector. An international technical expert will also shortly be deployed at the National Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (INICC).

Tuberculosis is the 4th cause of mortality in Mozambique. The country is in all three of the WHO’s lists of high burden countries. During his trip, Jérémie Pellet visited the Aurum Foundation in Maputo which works to support the Ministry of Health’s national tuberculosis programmes, by focusing on diagnosis and treatment. Through L’Initiative, Expertise France has undertaken to support the implementation of a new strategy for systematic and regular peer-led tuberculosis screening among health workers in Gaza Province in Mozambique. At the same time, it plans shortly to deploy assistance based on the use of new health technologies for screening and treating tuberculosis in children.

Expertise France also operates in the country through projects on civil aviation, biodiversity, maritime security and the fight against money laundering.