Paper Number: 4819
Being better informed for a better quality of life in Africa and Europe – building bridge through PanAfGeo
Delfini, C.1
EuroGeoSurveys, Rue Joseph II, 36, 1000 Brussels - claudia.delfini@eurogeosurveys.org
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Shared information is essential for the responsible and sustainable development of a country’s mineral, energy, and water resources, safe development and modernisation of infrastructure, protecting the public from losses due to geological, natural or anthropogenic hazards, and the wise use of the state’s natural resources. PanAfGeo, a project designed to strengthen the skills and the knowledge of the African Geological Surveys, will contribute to enhance the social benefits in terms of welfare, employment and environmental sustainability. Awareness actions that the project will put in place are based on the sharing, involvement and engagement concept. The aim is to improve the institutional capacity to encourage investment by the private sector, as well as to transfer know-how to the Artisanal Small Mining owners for improvement of safety, child and women labour exploitation, gender equality and community development and to develop a knowledge on the diversity of use of mineral resources in human activities. This would contribute towards addressing cultural concerns about the sustainable development of non-renewable underground resources.
The key actions in this framework are to promote and facilitate the dialogue and the interactions between the project partners, African Geological Surveys and stakeholders. This dialogue will bring the partners, EuroGeoSurveys (EGS), the Geological Surveys of Europe, and the Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS), to improve a mutual understanding and to establish a long-term relationship.
The main stakeholders will be informed through specific and targeted communication actions (conferences, workshops, dissemination materials, website, articles and press releases). These stakeholders are divided into direct and indirect beneficiaries. On the one hand, the direct beneficiaries (OAGS primary beneficiary, Universities, YES, etc.) who, improving their own knowledge and skills, will contribute to raise the profile of the OAGS organisation (of which most of them are members), allowing OAGS to become a privileged partner of the African Union Commission (AUC) and other institutions and, at the same time, to bring forward geoscientific opportunities for the sustainable development of the region, eliminating the need for foreign expertise. While on the other hand, the indirect beneficiaries – such as the African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC) the Geological Society of Africa (GSAf), UNESCO, the World Bank Group (WB), the African Union Commission, the Regional Economic Communities, the ACP Group of States, the UN organisations – on the basis of the official information provided by OAGS, can develop more conscious decision making procedures, in terms of economic and infrastructure development, and encourage entrepreneurial activities. This process of transfer of messages will be based on the development of a communication network which, using the most suitable communication tools, will maintain high interest in the project, informing, involving and engaging with the stakeholders.
The PanAfGeo Project, financed by the Pan-African Programme of the EU's Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), will run for an initial period of 3 years with a view to extending it a further 3 years. The consortium that will carry out the project is composed of several African and European Geological Surveys in the form of an EGS–OAGS partnership, and will be coordinated by the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in close cooperation with EGS.