Overview
The ArcX programme – Africa Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoE) supports regional centres working in key thematic areas such as water, agroecology, biodiversity and forests, climate change resilience and ocean. These centres act as hubs of innovation, delivering locally tailored solutions, promoting cross-fertilisation, and the exchange of good practices. They bridge the gap between research, public policy, and private sector, in line with the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. By fostering innovation and capacity in both the EU and AU, ArcX helps position Africa as a key player in the global green transition.
ArcX also benefits to communities most vulnerable to environmental change. It strengthens local capacity by improving data collection, knowledge generation, and the development of skills among African scientists, practitioners and policymakers.
Key information
- Location: Sub-Saharan Africa
- Duration: 96 months (2022 – 2030)
- Topics: Climate, environment and energy - International Partnerships
- Total Budget: EUR 80 M
- EU Contribution: EUR 80 M
- Implementing partners:
- CCARDESA – Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa — Botswana (Gaborone)
- CIFOR/World Agroforestry Centre (CIFOR–ICRAF) — Kenya (Nairobi)
- CORAF – West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development — Senegal (Dakar)
- CSE – Centre de Suivi Ecologique — Senegal (Dakar)
- FARA – Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa — Ghana (Accra)
- ICIPE – International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology — Kenya (Nairobi)
- Mercator Ocean International — France (Toulouse)
- OFAC – Observatoire des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale — République Démocratique du Congo (Kinshasa, hosted by COMIFAC)
- RCMRD – Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development — Kenya (Nairobi)
- RUFORUM – Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture — Uganda (Kampala)
- Stellenbosch University – South Africa (Stellenbosch)
- ECMWF – European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forescast – Germany (Bonn)
Approach and objectives
Sub-Saharan Africa is facing major challenges and pressures that threaten sustainable development, including climate change, environmental degradation, unsustainable resource management, biodiversity loss and uneven technological development. These dynamics weaken ecosystems and livelihoods and make the green transition both urgent and unavoidable. Green transition is at the heart of the AU–EU High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
The Africa continent is facing weak STI capacity with a shortage of skills in critical sectors combined with limited investment in research and development. At the same time, gender inequality remains a structural issue: women, especially in leadership and managerial positions, are still under-represented in STI, which limits inclusive and balanced decision-making.
Against this background, the ArcX programme supports an ecosystem of 50 Centres of Excellence in 22 African countries together with 10 partner organisations in Europe. It operates as a transnational platform that connects partners across borders, enabling structured exchange, coordination and collective learning. By doing so, ArcX promotes cross-sector collaboration and strengthens policy influence, innovation outcomes through improved data, knowledge and skills and private sector involvement.
Actions
STI-based solutions can support decision-making and help progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ArcX programme is structured around 5 thematic components (Biodiversity & Forests, Agroecology, Water, Ocean and Climate Change Resilience) and 1 cross-cutting component. These are aimed at:
- Strengthening Regional Centres of Excellence (RCoEs): enhancing their capacities in their respective thematic areas. This includes upgrading research infrastructures, fostering gender-sensitive approaches, and improving data collection, sharing, and analysis.
- Promoting knowledge generation and management: this entails cross-sectoral collaboration, open science, and partnerships between African and European stakeholders to produce evidence-based policies and innovative solutions.
- Supporting practitioners and policymakers: providing tailored services, decision-support systems, and capacity-building activities to improve policymaking, innovation ecosystems, and business development.
- Creating networking and collaboration opportunities: facilitating intra-African and Africa-EU partnerships.
Contact
For any questions or additional information about the ArcX programme, please contact INTPA-A2
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (INTPA-A2[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).
Calls for proposals
A call for tenders entitled “Development and implementation of the OceanPrediction Decade Collaborative Centre Architecture for Ocean Forecasting” has been launched under the ArcX programme.
This consultation aims to provide technical support for the development and deployment of operational ocean forecasting systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, including system development, operational implementation, capacity building and co-design of visualisation tools with African partners.