Fourteen new development cooperation projects selected by ARES as part of its 2019 call for proposals begin this year in 12 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Five are coordinated by UCLouvain.
Funded by Belgian Cooperation, the projects bring together Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB) higher education institutions and Southern partners around development issues. There are two types of projects: Development Research Projects (PRDs), which aim to strengthen the research capacity of higher education institutions in the South, and Southern Training Projects (PFSs), whose aim is to strengthen teaching and local skills in response to identified training needs in society.
Projects are funded for a period of five years. They systematically bring together several FWB higher education institutions and are coordinated by one of them. UCLouvain coordinates five – one third – of the projects in this 2019-24 cohort.
In Cuba, Prof. Bruno Delvaux (Faculty of Bioengineering) coordinates a project to promote new varieties of ‘sustainable’ bananas. In Rwanda, the project led by Prof. Jean-Paul Coutelier (Faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) focuses on managing malaria patients. In Ecuador, the project coordinated by Prof. Stephan Declerck (Faculty of Bioengineering) and researcher Cony Decock studies soils polluted by oil. Prof. Marie-Paule Kestemont (Louvain School of Management) pilots a project to amplify the agro-ecological transition for cereal and vegetable production systems in Benin and Burkina Faso. Finally, Prof. Vincent Wertz (Louvain School of Engineering) coordinates a project to create a certificate in university pedagogy in Madagascar.
Finally, it should be noted that around 50 PRDs and PFSs are currently in progress, of which 31 are coordinated by UCLouvain.