After a brief welcome from the Minister Romain Schneider, the MFA presented its new visual identity as well as its new general strategy of development cooperation. This will focus on the following four priorities:

• Improving access to quality basic social services
• Strengthening the socio-economic integration of women and young people
• Promoting inclusive and sustainable growth
• Strengthening inclusive governance

For the afternoon, the MFA had scheduled a round table to discuss the real challenges in the field, with a focus on the Sahel region. Two ideas that were mentioned by all speakers are, on the one hand, the important role of women in the development of a community and, on the other hand, the ownership of projects by the local population. Even with the support of an organization from abroad, the local community must always be responsible and the protagonist of its own development.

In the late afternoon, Lux-Development, the development agency of the state of Luxembourg, invited to their 40th anniversary press conference. Minister Romain Schneider and Lux-Dev director Gaston Schwartz gave a general overview of Lux-Dev’s journey, before different partners and project managers presented some accomplishments in more detail.

It was very interesting to see how Lux-Dev was able to learn to change its role from being the “pilot” of projects to “co-pilot”, thus ensuring ownership of the project by the local community. This is of course a principle that is also very important in our relations with our partners at Unity Foundation. For us, this is one of the key elements to ensure the sustainability of a project.

Another topic that was also mentioned several times was the South-South-North collaboration. It was interesting to hear that this kind of collaboration is proving effective in many areas, as Unity Foundation has also added the new line of action of Training Centers, a collaboration between different organizations in Africa.

Photo: © MAEE