Food and energy security, climate change, rising prices, empowerment of producers, and the fight against poverty has forced African countries to review their agricultural strategy to upgrade and modernize the sector. In Morocco, agriculture is responsible for 33% of the employment and contributes close to 13% of GDP. Agri-production has also seen increasingly high added value crops such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. In other countries such as South Africa, production is also expected to grow significantly in the coming years, showing great economic prospects in the sector. However, the growth of the agricultural sector combined with climate change exerts stress on water resources. 80-95% of water resources are used in agriculture of which 40% comes from groundwater. With an annual groundwater extraction rate of 4226 million cubic meters (MCM) and a renewal potential of 3404 MCM, Moroccan farmers are already witnessing a significant deficit, which will worsen in the near future. It is therefore critical for the agricultural sector to become more resilient and sustainable. This can be achieved by increasing efficiency in water management by using micro-irrigation systems, setting up water collection and using partial shading to reduce evapotranspiration. On the energy side, Morocco has no hydrocarbon reserves and is highly energy dependent. The growth of electricity demand is more than 4% a year. The power sector is the primary driver of CO2 emissions (39%) along with agriculture (5%). However, the kingdom has a very high renewable energy potential not yet exploited. In the Water-Energy-Food nexus, agrivoltaic (APV) systems, a combination of PV and agriculture on the same land, appears to be a very attractive solution to address these challenges with a strong synergy between the three following aspects. On the food level, it provides excellent plant protection against heat by providing partial shading. On the water side, the APV system helps to reduce water consumption by reducing evapotranspiration [8]. Also, the installation can be used to collect rainwater which can be filtered and used for drip irrigation. Finally, on the energy side, the electricity produced with the APV system can be used to power irrigation and desalination systems. The energy produced can be self-consumed by the agri-company for post-harvest processes such as food packaging, cold storage and transformation. It can also be reinjected into the grid. Due to the severe electricity shortage in South Africa, many farmers are considering PV panels. Local Independent Power Suppliers (IPP) claim that with the favorable climate in South Africa, the LCOE of electricity is below the purchase price of electricity from Eskom. The additional benefits of agricultural activities in shaded areas, such as water conservation and increased crop quality are becoming bonus attributes that can improve the financial viability of the farm and food security for the country. In this project, the benefit of APV will be assessed in the context of agriculture in arid regions, with emphasis on the synergy between the Water-Energy-Food nexus. A first part of the project will be focused on better understanding and demonstrating how APV can help the booming berry industry in Morocco and South Africa to become more sustainable and resilient. A second part of the project will be focused on assessing how APV can be deployed at a larger scale for fruit and vegetable production across African countries. The project will follow a participative approach where all stakeholders will be involved in the various phases of the project implementation, including governmental agencies concerned with water-food-energy, the private sector and farmers. The outcomes of the project will be transferred to these parties through awareness raising, capacity building, dissemination activities and training materials that will be regularly scheduled throughout the project.

DignityFIRM contributes to improving conditions of irregular migrants (IM) working in Farm to Fork (F2F) labour markets in four EU member states (IT, NL, PL, SP) and two associated countries (MO, UA). To derive structural recommendations for improvements, we analyze regulatory infrastructures that govern these conditions distinguishing five influential spheres of stakeholders at the EU, national, and local levels, and at the level of employers and IM themselves. The focus on IM in F2F labour markets is timely given the instrumental role of these industries in securing EU livelihoods, the high systemic dependency on IM that coincides with persistent group vulnerabilities. By providing knowledge and innovative tools to improve regulatory infrastructures, this project enhances IM’s access to basic rights and services, and improves their precarious working conditions. Doing so, we contribute to systemic resilience of F2F industries and the EU’s ambitions for social and economic transformation. Our project adopts a mixed-method research approach, that includes a special focus on the division of labour in F2F markets with respect to gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, health and safety. Doing so, we provide new knowledge on 1) the multidimensional regulatory infrastructure and the conditions of IM therein, 2) their access to basic rights and social services, and 3) employer reliance on IMs. We build on our analysis of the current situation, and work towards innovative solutions by developing Dignity tools in co-creation with stakeholders across the five stakeholder spheres. We propose group sensitive policy measures at EU, national, and local level, across four policy domains: migration management, EU pillar social rights, labour market sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Doing so, we create a pathway for impact towards upholding IMs’ access to rights and services and simultaneously addressing labour market needs and wellbeing of host communities.

The project MarMOOC, entitled «apprentissage hybride mutualisé et ouvert dans les universités Marocaines» (Shared blended and open learning for Moroccan universities), aims to support a thoughtful integration and wide distribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as an efficient teaching support for Moroccan universities. In order to reduce the impact of massification of higher education and to improve the quality of the education delivered by Moroccan universities, MarMOOC will focus on the development of a widely shared platform, which proposes courses and innovative educational content online. In order to achieve this goal, several actions will be undertaken as part of this project:1. to foster the adoption of a blended learning approach, by promoting the use of new teaching practices such as the use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and Small Private Online Courses (SPOC) for small groups;2. to lead Moroccan Universities in the process of design and development of rich and innovative teaching resources in six main academic areas: business administration, law, life and physical sciences, engineering, agriculture and fishery and health;3. to provide Moroccan universities with their first Moroccan shared joint platform of SPOC and MOOC courses, named MarMOOC;4. to contribute to the opening of Moroccan universities by implementing an inclusive and “on-demand” online education model.The partners involved in this project will cooperate in logic of sharing experiences and resources in order to ensure the optimization of resources deployed for the implementation of project activities.

Human society is facing a number of global challenges (e.g. climate change, population growth and migrations, food and energy security). In an effort to solve those challenges decision makers must rely on spatial data (SD). An efficient use of SD requires that they are well structured and directly available. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) as frameworks to share and re-use SD by public authorities, private sector and citizens, and Earth Observation (EO) as one of the main sources for SD, are key elements for different application domains. Precondition for a successful use of SD are the relevant knowledge and skills in SDI and EO technologies amongst professionals. This means also that institutions of higher education must have the knowledge and capacities to provide modern education to their students and offer professionals the right VET programmes to raise the overall level of expertise in SDI & EO. The region of Northern Africa (NA) is also exposed to the above mentioned global challenges, but is currently facing a lack of SD and EO use in decision and policy making, which is directly related with the lower level of SDI development and the sub-optimal use of EO data. It is therefore essential that academic institutions in NA countries raise their capacities regarding SDI & EO. The SEED4NA project aims to: 1) develop the required knowledge, skills and competencies on SDI & EO within partner universities; 2) help introducing modern SDI & EO courses in engineering and agriculture/forestry studies; 3) implement supporting VET programmes; 4) help partner universities to support the development of SDI in their country and 5) promote a European approach to SDI & EO. SEED4NA will result in the establishment of capable, well trained pools of experts within academic institutions which will introduce in their turn a modern approach in academic and VET education on SDI & EO in their respective countries, thereby becoming promotors of SDI development and EO use.

The Moroccan Higher Education (HE) sector is facing significant change as it moves to enhance accessibility and quality for students, and impact for its economy and society. The reform and restructuring of the HE system in Morocco needed to deliver on these objectives is being slowed by a lack of leadership capacity. Universities in Morocco need to build the capacity of their leaders for governance, strategic planning and management in order to deliver these reforms.The project addresses the need for development for university leaders in Morocco through the creation and implementation of a National Centre for Leadership Development (NLDC) and an associated certificated national leadership development programme (NLDP). When creating the NLDC and its NLDP, it will create the constitution and operating procedures for the centre; structures and materials to support the programme; and identify and equip dedicated facilities where the development activities will take place. Learning will take place through networking meetings, lectures from visiting speakers, action learning sets, and promote immediate improvements through national change projects. The project will develop and execute staff training workshops for Moroccan university staff responsible for establishing the new centre and implementing the programme.During the life of the project, 132 Moroccan HE leaders and managers will engage with the NLDC and benefit from the NLDP with a demonstrable impact on their capacity to operate the governance, strategic plans and management of HEIs. In the year following the project, it is expected that additional leaders will benefit from taking the NLDP and that at least 10 additional Moroccan HEIs will have adopted it for leadership development. All HEIs in Morocco will engage with the NLDC for leadership development through activities including a leadership conference. Together these actions will enhance the capacity for reform nationally.