The Mobility to Train Agribusiness and Food Systems Scientists for African Agriculture (TAFSA) is designed to re-direct human capacity development efforts in the agricultural sector in Africa to address three key challenges that agricultural development in Africa should provide solutions to. These are, graduate employment, wealth creation (poverty reduction) and food and nutrition security improvement. Previous projects/collaborations in the agricultural domain focused largely on deep science, with limited emphasis on the fate of the students upon graduation, their transition into the next professional life, and the contribution of the graduate to the current social dilemma of the society including lack of employment, poverty and food and nutrition insecurity.
TAFSA project is part of the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme is the EU’s programme to encourage international learning mobility across the African continent. It is part of the Youth Mobility for Africa initiative within the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package, which supports cooperation in higher education and skills development, and promotes Africa as a study destination.
The Project Objective
The overall objective of the Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme programme is to enhance human capital development in Africa, while strengthening intra-African collaboration as called for by Agenda 2063. The programme's specific objectives are to:
- Increase the employability of students
- Improve the quality of higher education in Africa and its relevance to Africa's development vision
- Strengthen the modernisation and internationalisation of African higher education institutions, and promote the development of an African higher education and research space
Expected results
Through students training and staff capacity building, TAFSA project is expected to contribute to:
- Improving the skills and competencies of students to increase their employability;
- Improving the quality of higher education in Africa and its relevance to Africa's development vision; and
Strengthening partnerships and research collaboration amongst African higher education institutions and research collaboration.