An International
Consortium
Global Africa is an international consortium bringing together the following institutions with permanent member or partner member status. It covers 43% of its first four-year budget and benefits from AFD funding for the rest.
Consortium
Permanent Members
Laboratory for the Analysis of Societies and Powers/Africa – Diasporas (LASPAD), Senegal
LASPAD is one of the most dynamic laboratories at UGB. It drives innovative research aligned with sustainability science. Its permanent members come from several teaching and research units, and associated researchers come from almost all regions of the continent. LASPAD aims to advance research on contemporary dynamics of African societies and their diasporas, as well as promote forward-looking research. It conducts transdisciplinary research and seeks to break free from a triple compartmentalization: between social sciences; between humanities and natural sciences; between exogenous sciences and indigenous knowledge. LASPAD decidedly opts for collective and collaborative research, which alone can generate knowledge in the service of human societies and the public interest.
French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), France
IRD is a French public institution under the dual supervision of the Ministries of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation, and Europe and Foreign Affairs. It pursues an original approach to research, expertise, training, and knowledge-sharing for the benefit of territories and countries where science and innovation are key drivers of development. It is one of the few public institutions in Europe entirely dedicated to the development issues of Southern countries, and bases its action on equitable scientific partnership with developing countries, mainly those in intertropical regions and the Mediterranean area. IRD's priorities are aligned with the implementation, combined with a critical analysis, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the ambition of guiding development policies and addressing major challenges related to global, environmental, economic, social, and cultural changes affecting the entire planet. It has been heavily invested for several decades in understanding social, economic, and environmental dynamics on the African continent, where the majority of its 800 researchers work and where it has fourteen offices (representations). As a publisher as well, IRD has extensive expertise in knowledge publication and dissemination.
The Laboratory for Studies and Research on Social Dynamics and Local Development (LASDEL), Niger
LASDEL is a Nigerien and Beninese laboratory for research in social sciences founded in 2001 in Niamey (Niger), and extended to Parakou (Benin) in 2004. It brings together internationally renowned researchers and has an international scientific advisory board. LASDEL has signed partnership agreements with Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey (Niger), University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), University of Parakou (Benin), School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (France), IRD (France), and the African Studies Centre in Leiden (Netherlands). The central issue for the laboratory is the empirical analysis of governance in everyday life (the delivery and management of public and collective goods and services). LASDEL has developed strong interactions with the development world and offers a well-regarded training program (Summer Schools), both of which are important expertise for the Global Africa project.
The International University of Rabat (UIR), Morocco
Founded in 2010, UIR positions itself as an African university with the ambition of global influence. This notably involves developing incoming and outgoing mobilities with other African countries and encouraging the mobility of African research in a South-South axis. UIR contributes to shaping future generations of Mediterranean and African decision-makers by offering them high-level training, in line with the most demanding international standards. Born out of the desire to address the economic, political, and social challenges of the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, UIR's ambition is to transmit knowledge and values for the benefit of tomorrow's societies. UIR rallies a network of prestigious academic and industrial partners, thanks in particular to the mobilization of the Moroccan academic diaspora and involvement in labeled international consortia and laboratories. It is from its research center at the College of Political, Social Sciences and Law that the coordination for the Maghreb of the Global Africa project will be dedicated, with the support of UIR's governance.
Partner Members
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (Dakar, Senegal) is the oldest and largest pan-African research center in the humanities and social sciences, with extensive expertise in designing and conducting research programs, supporting young researchers, publishing, translation, scientific animation, and method workshops. CODESRIA has an impressive network of individual and institutional members, serving as a pool of authors, evaluators, and guest editors, which is invaluable to the Global Africa program.
The African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA, pan-African) is composed of researchers, practitioners, and activists from the African continent and its diaspora. The association's vision is to promote Africa's specific contributions to advancing knowledge about the peoples and cultures of Africa and the diaspora. ASAA is a young and motivated association whose biennials are institutionalized in the African research agenda. The issue of knowledge production on the Continent is one of its priority areas of work.
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies has the mission of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about the French economy and society across its entire territory. Since its creation in 1946, Insee has been engaged in various forms of cooperation with Africa, including the publication of the Stateco journal in partnership with IRD and Afristat. INSEE will contribute its expertise in the development of training modules on the use of statistics in the humanities and social sciences and will participate in the scientific advisory board and the network of article reviewers for the journal.
African Worlds Institute (IMAF)
The Institute of African Worlds is a joint research laboratory of EHESS, IRD, EPHE, University of Paris 1, CNRS, and AMU. IMAF is an interdisciplinary research unit (history, art history, anthropology, political science, legal history, archaeology, geography) whose research on the entire African continent or its diasporas is organized around six axes: the production and circulation of knowledge; political economies and African globalizations in the long term; powers, spaces, temporalities, and uses of the past; spaces of the religious (genealogies, textualities, materialities), art as a political object, and gender, bodies, subjectivities.
Virtual University of Senegal (UVS)
The Virtual University of Senegal is the second-largest university in Senegal in terms of student enrollment and the only one that offers one hundred percent online education. UVS is a strategic partner of Global Africa, providing expertise in the development of online training modules as well as insights into digital technologies and their social and economic uses.
Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University (UNCHK)
The Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University is the second university in Senegal in terms of numbers of learners and the only one that offers one hundred percent online training. The UNCHK is a strategic partner of Global Africa which brings its expertise both in the preparation of online training modules and in the reflection on digital technologies and their social and economic uses.
The University of La Manouba is a public institution of higher education in the Republic of Tunisia. It was officially established in 2000. Built around the Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Humanities, it has a large campus and, in 2012, counted a total of 20,000 students, 1608 teacher-researchers, and 530 administrative staff and executives. The University of La Manouba aims to attract students eager to develop their potential. To achieve this, managers, teachers, and researchers work to revitalize the links between research and teaching by applying the necessary complementarity between humanities, social sciences, technical, experimental sciences, literature, and the arts. The University of La Manouba is committed to ensuring that the citizens of tomorrow carry constructive energies and visions capable of transforming the surrounding world and shaping the future.
The Conversation is an online scientific information platform and a non-profit association (with over 50,000 subscribers, 830,000 monthly page views). Its unique collaboration model between experts and journalists aims to share knowledge by giving a voice to researchers in the public debate. The association's mission is to shed light on current events with reliable expertise based on research. The Conversation, particularly through its hubs in Dakar and Johannesburg, will be able to publish concise and accessible versions for a wide audience of articles from Global Africa authors.
The Network of French-speaking African Science Journalists was created during the 11th World Conference of Science Journalists (Lausanne). This very young but dynamic network, which brings together about thirty members, mobilizes journalists, scientists, private and public organizations, both national and international, to meet the challenges of popularizing research results in French-speaking Africa. This network will relay the publications and activities of Global Africa.