The Afrique – Architecture – Formation (AAF) project supports the architectural education sector in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa, which suffers from structural training difficulties. This EU-funded 36 months projects (Erasmus programme) aims to build the capacity of higher education architecture institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo, focusing on the “digital transformation” priority proposed by the European Commission. With a view to ensuring the sustainability of its impact, the AAF project is helping to modernise curricula and teaching techniques. It strengthens teaching facilities and encourages staff mobility in partner institutions. Backed by a European team with extensive previous experience of working in Africa, the project supports the “south-south” cooperation between African institutions by making the most of the experience of partners from Togo and Congo. Based on an analysis of the needs expressed by the African partners, the project acknowledges the difficulties faced by these institutions and promotes a contextualised approach by proposing 4 main work modules: 1/capacity-building in research contextualised to Africa (doctoral schools, libraries, etc.); 2/strenghtening capacities in teaching a ‘situâtes’ architectural project; 3/improving the access to the profession, especially for women; 4/strenghtening the capacities of African partners regarding educational and digital innovation (training, dedicated equipments, production of pedagogic videos (MOOCs) etc. The AAF project is complemented by two other modules, one devoted to project management and quality assurance, and the other to communication, visibility and impact.

DATES:

October 2023 ► September 2026 (36 months)

PARTNERS:

Université Libre de Bruxelles (coord., BE) – Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille (ENSA-Marseille, FR) – Ecole Africaine des Métiers de l’Architecture et de l’Urbanisme (EAMAU, TOGO) – Institut Régional d’Enseignement Supérieur et de Recherche en Développement Culturel (IRES-RDEC, TOGO) – Université Kongo (UK, RDC) – Institut Supérieur d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme (ISAU, RDC) – Université de Lubumbashi (UNILU, RDC)

FUNDING:

800.000 €