Multimedia

External event

Meeting

Meeting of the EU-Africa Network of Economic and Social Stakeholders

The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) was adopted in 2007 and has become the main framework for inter-continental relations between Europe and Africa. Its goal is to develop a shared vision of the main global issues whilst simultaneously strengthening cooperation in a broad range of areas such as development, governance, human rights, trade, regional integration, food security and migration.

Meetings of the EU-Africa Network of economic and social stakeholders have been held on an annual basis since 2014. The first two meetings were held in Brussels. In 2016 the network will gather on African soil for the first time. This year the focus will be on 2 topics:

• MIGRATION: after some follow-up to the Valletta Summit between EU and African heads of state last year, we will compare legal migration policies and approaches in both continents. Kenya belongs to the East African Community (EAC) where some labour mobility applies, therefore there is room for analysing opportunities for collaboration between the 2 continents, including youth policy, education and social protection aspects.
• CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE: After the COP21 in Paris came up with a number of commitments, the COP22 in Morocco (November 2016) will examine how to really put in place the measures decided. Multiple funds have been established, but access to these funds by civil society organisations is not always clear, and some have called for an increased knowledge of these funds. Indeed, African farmers’ associations have an interest to see how the available resources will trickle down to help them cope with the effects of climate change on their daily lives. Potential collaborations that could ensure implementation of projects on the field with local players will be explored. The strategies discussed may also serve as best practices for other non-state and socio-economic actors.

At a recent meeting of ROPPA and ECDPM, inputs for the EU-Africa Networks’ meeting were discussed.

ECDPM’s Hanne Knaepen gave a presentation on the challenges for climate finance.