Kenya, Uganda and Zambia have serious challenges in utilizing the agro-sector jobs and wealth creation potential in national development. The reason for this is that the agro-graduates are not equipped with work-life relevant competences because they are not trained with modern pedagogical methods. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a powerful way to educate students in systems thinking and to equip them with 21st century relevant competences. Most agricultural Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) do not offer PBL based courses. HEI staff are not trained in using student-centered methods, and university-industry cooperation is weak. European HEIs, such as HAMK, Aalto and UNIPV do research and apply sustainable education approaches for global development. In the AgriSCALE project, the EU HEIs aim to develop a contextualized PBL education method appropriate in SSA. The project addresses the strategic bottleneck of the HEIs to equip graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset and competences to solve complex development challenges in the agro-sector. The project cooperation is based on PBL methodology development, the training of teaching staff on PBL methods and tools, and joint piloting of PBL cases in cooperation with the student teams involved. The objective is to establish PBL into the agro-entrepreneur curricula of the partner HEIs in KE, UG and ZM. EU HEIs bring their PBL expertise to the project and all HEIs contribute to student field challenges; Aalto facilitates PBL learning in real-life contexts; Aalto and HAMK co-lead competence-based quality assurance; UNIPV develops the PBL expert teachers network and Best Practice PBL Manual for dissemination to SSA; and HAMK in the overall management and research-based PBL methodology development. At the end of the project, the six participating HEIs will continue the PBL entrepreneurship courses.

In most African countries, there is need for revitalizing HEIs to deliver agricultural science curricula that will produce graduates with requisite skills for employment, job creation and agricultural development. AgriENGAGE aims at strengthening HEIs to provide excellent training programmes in agricultural sciences responsive to evolving labour market demands of stimulating agricultural transformation and enhanced agricultural sector competitiveness. The specific objectives of the project are: availability of updated agripreneurial and Community Engagement Training programmes at HEIs; enhanced teaching compentences in business development services and community engagement in HEIs’ academic staff; students skilled in demand driven agripreneurship, agribusiness development services and community engagement and enhanced collaboration between HEIs and industry. The project is envisioned to upscale the hands on approach to agricultural science teaching by skilling staff and students through reviewing existing curricula and developing modules in agripreneurship and community engagement, training staff and students in community engagement and agribusiness development services and working with farmers and industry. Moreover the project will conduct agribusiness clinics, farm attachment, entrepreneurship and community engagement challenges to build the skills of students in entreprenurship and community engagement. This will enhance academic staff pedagogical skills to deliver curricula for agripreneurship and Community engagement, strengthen students’ skills in agripreneurship, business development services and community engagement as well as enhance collaboration between HEIs institutions, farming community and industry. The target groups in AgriENGAGE are students, academic staff and the higher education institutions. Indirect target groups like farmers and employers will benefit through ability of graduates to work with farmers and industry to transform smallholder en

The Food Safety for Africa (FS4Africa) proposal is designed to address food safety challenges in Africa. Focus is given to addressing food safety issues associated with weak channels for value chain organisation, traceability & authentication of safe food. Food safety challenges addressed include mycotoxin contamination in multiple food crops including food and feed, pesticide residues in grains and vegetables, microbial contamination particularly Escherichia coli contamination, and food adulteration of foods. The aim of the proposed proposal is to improve African food safety systems with particular attention to the informal sector through local market transformation enhancing food security and regional trade while reducing negative impacts on the environment, biodiversity, health and society. to By utilizing expertise, skills, networks and tools available within the consortium comprising partners based in Africa and Europe, we aim to address food safety challenges through policy development & implementation of existing policies, implementation of strategies uplift the informal sector using a combination of tools, approaches to transform the informal sector to a mezzanine status utilizing digital tools, communication of strategies, utilization of sound scientific, social and technological approaches. Tools in physical sciences, social science and humanities including in behavioral science, One Health, preservation of biodiversity is given attention in the proposal through implementation of interdisciplinary approaches that given consideration to human, animal, environmental and plant health. By employing strategies that meet "the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The proposed project will leverage on activities of other projects in previous and current EU projects and involve collaboration with the Joint Research Center especially as EC, Knowledge Center for Global Food and Nutrition Security.

Current African city region food systems fail to deliver food and nutrition security (FNS), health, and environmental sustainability. INCiTiS-FOOD develops scientifically underpinned circular agri-food technologies and practices, suitable for African cities. The context specific socio-technological use cases of INCiTiS-FOOD address the prevalent deficiency of animal sourced foods, vegetables and fruits. Hydroponics, aquaponics, and insect farming hold great promise because they require limited land, water, energy, wealth and reduce waste. Hydroponics and aquaponics infer soilless, circular vegetable and fish farming enterprises. Using an interdisciplinary approach, inclusive and scalable business models are developed for these enterprises, contributing to thriving and collaborative communities. This circular food system thinking improves FNS, delivers safe, affordable, nutritious, and healthy food, reduces waste and the environmental footprint in African cities. INCiTiS-FOOD follows a multi-actor approach for co-design and co-creation of circular agri-food innovations and business models, involving 8 city Living Labs in 6 countries from 3 African regions (East: Kenya; West: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone; Central: Cameroon, Gabon). The project aims for its innovations and businesses to attain a technological, societal, and business readiness level of TRL-7, SRL-7, and BRL-5, respectively. INCiTiS-FOOD agri-food innovations and business models will be widely adopted because their research and innovation maturity are proven by a large-scale demonstration as part of the Cascade Fund (1,000,000). International ecosystem building is promoted by the digital INCiTiS-FOOD Platform on SmartAgriHubs.eu to support African innovation actors. In strengthening resilience, inclusiveness, and FNS, INCiTiS-FOOD guides policy transformation by adhering to the EU Taxonomy Regulation and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The consortium is constituted with the EU-Africa dialogue in mind.