Dakar, Senegal · 30 September 2025
The Africa-Europe Youth Academy (AEYA) held its official launch event in Dakar on 30 September 2025, marking the operational rollout of a four-year EU-funded programme designed to empower young people across Sub-Saharan Africa. With a total budget of €15 million and a implementation period running from February 2025 to January 2029, the AEYA aims to develop youth leadership, provide technical support for capacity building, and create networks for young change agents aged 18 to 30 across the continent.
The programme is led by Expertise France in consortium with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). It forms part of the broader Youth Mobility for Africa flagship, a €50 million EU support structure that constitutes one of the key initiatives under the Global Gateway Africa-Europe Investment Package and the EU's Youth Action Plan.
Programme Architecture and Objectives
The AEYA is designed to address the demographic reality of Africa, where the median age is approximately 19 years and the working-age population is projected to grow by hundreds of millions over the coming decades. The programme's objectives are threefold: to empower young people in Sub-Saharan Africa to become leaders and agents of change, to strengthen ties between Africa and Europe through youth-centred cooperation, and to build sustainable networks of young practitioners who can drive development in their communities.
The Academy Component focuses on youth leadership development, providing technical support, capacity building, and creating networks for young change agents. It complements the Youth Mobility Component, which channels direct learning exchanges through Erasmus+ Youth actions — the primary mechanism for individual education mobility opportunities.
The Broader Mobility Framework
The AEYA operates within a wider ecosystem of EU-Africa education and mobility initiatives. The Youth Mobility for Africa flagship also encompasses the Study and Research in Africa Initiative, launched in 2025 to increase opportunities for African and European students, researchers, and academic staff to build careers on the African continent. This initiative aims to boost the attractiveness of Africa as a study and research destination while building a knowledge and innovation ecosystem around EU private sector investment.
The programme builds on achievements since the 2022 AU-EU Summit, where heads of state and government committed to strengthening higher education and research as central drivers of the partnership. The Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Scheme has already facilitated over 50,000 exchanges of students and staff between Europe and Africa through Erasmus+ capacity-building measures, alongside 240 capacity-building projects involving higher education institutions.
Implementation and Next Steps
The AEYA's implementation by Expertise France and AICS brings together two major European development agencies with extensive experience in Sub-Saharan Africa. Expertise France, the French public agency for international technical cooperation, leads the consortium, while AICS contributes its expertise in development cooperation and youth programming.
The programme's four-year timeframe — running from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2029 — allows for multiple cohorts and iterative programme design. The Dakar launch event in September 2025 served as the public introduction of the programme to stakeholders across both continents, following the formal start of implementation in February.
Context: The Global Gateway Strategy
The Youth Mobility for Africa flagship sits within the EU's Global Gateway strategy, which aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in infrastructure and development investments globally by 2027, with a significant portion dedicated to Africa. The strategy positions education, skills, and mobility as integral components of sustainable development, alongside traditional infrastructure investments in transport, energy, and digital connectivity.
The AAU and EUA joint statement of November 2025 reinforced the importance of these initiatives, calling for the Youth Mobility for Africa Flagship to be continued as a dynamic platform for all major stakeholders and for the Africa Initiatives under Horizon Europe, Erasmus+ capacity-building measures, and the Intra-Africa Mobility Scheme to be strengthened in the EU's 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework.
Implications for African Youth Development
The AEYA's focus on youth leadership and capacity building addresses a critical gap in Africa's development architecture. While numerous scholarship and fellowship programmes exist for postgraduate education, fewer initiatives target the broader population of young people who may not pursue advanced degrees but require leadership skills, networks, and opportunities to contribute to their communities.
By targeting the 18-30 age group and working through youth-led organisations, the AEYA aims to build a cadre of young leaders who can bridge the gap between formal education systems and community-level development. The programme's emphasis on creating networks across Sub-Saharan Africa also addresses the fragmentation that has limited the impact of previous youth initiatives, where individual national programmes have operated in isolation from continental frameworks.
Sources:
- European Union, International Partnerships, "Africa-Europe Youth Academy," international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu
- Expertise France, "Africa-Europe Youth Academy (AEYA) — Develop Youth Leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa," expertisefrance.fr
- European Union, Capacity4Dev, Africa-Europe Youth Academy project page
- Association of African Universities, "Strengthening higher education and research cooperation must be a pillar of the Africa-EU Partnership," November 2025
- European Union, International Partnerships, Youth Mobility for Africa
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