Built on LEAP-RE programme implemented between 2020 and 2025, the LEAP-SE action will organize 2 co-funded calls steered by European and African funding organisations. The Calls Steering Committee (CSC), gathering all funding organisations involved in the action, will select the projects to be funded considering the specific national eligibility and funding rules of each funding agency (nationality of beneficiaries, TRL, nature of beneficiaries, thematic scope, etc.). It should be noted that, even if the overall scope of LEAP-SE enlarges to all sustainable energy fields matching the CCSE scope on energy (including the multiannual roadmaps of LEAP-RE and the enlarged to green hydrogen issues) it will still be possible for funding agencies to focus their specific action on their own priority lines, in term of thematic focus or on TRL level. LEAP-SE draws on the experience and partnership developed in LEAP-RE. This partnership is further strengthened by a much larger number of African organisations/countries participating to the co-funded calls and by previous collaboration between partners in other projects supporting the EU-Africa HLPD on STI, such as LEAP-Agri, ERAfrica, LEAP4FNSSA, RINEA, CAAST-Net Plus and FOSC. It will work with other European partnerships such as CETP and DUT. LEAP-SE will also ensure the follow-up and monitoring of the funded projects, the valorisation of the results and clustering activities will ensure a broad dissemination of projects outputs reaching a global coherence among funded projects and avoiding fragmentation. The high-level dialogue foreseen with policymakers and institutional stakeholders will ensure that LEAP-SE has access to the relevant instances to raise any policy or regulatory issue hindering the deployment of some innovative solutions.

The general objective of LEAP4FNSSA is to establish a sustainable structure, or ‘Platform’, for the efficient and coherent implementation of the AU-EU Research and Innovation Partnership as described in the FNSSA Roadmap. Under the aegis of the HLPD and its Bureau, and by building upon related projects such as RINEA, CAAST-Net. Plus, ProIntensAfrica and LEAP-Agri, LEAP4FNSSA aims to achieve this overall objective through three specific objectives: - Increase the synergies and coherence between actors, research and innovation projects, initiatives and programmes, through the development of institutional alliances and clusters of projects; - Develop a learning environment and a large knowledge base, including monitoring and evaluation activities, creating communication and links between different initiatives to improve STI cooperation; - Establish a long term and sustainable governance and funding mechanism for the Platform. To reach these objectives, LEAP4FNSSA will build on a large consortium of experienc