Fidelity to its values of solidarity and sharing, the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) is launching a second COVID-19 call for the creation of projects to benefit the Global South.

The launch in 2020 of a first international pandemic call in its member institutions to support the projects of pandemic pupils, student engineers and young researchers, led the AUF to double its initial donation and to mobilize over EUR 1 million to fund 92 projects from 87 member institutions of 44 countries. This was a very successful initiative.

The variety and quality of the selected projects demonstrated the agility and creativity of students and young researchers to respond in an innovative and rapid manner to the many challenges facing our societies.

Unfortunately, one year later, this pandemic is still raging and seems to be taking hold. Its endemic character has a lasting impact not only on health systems but also on all the workings of our ecosystems, and particularly on education systems. In addition, the health crisis has amplified psycho-social phenomena whose effects are not yet fully understood.

The new COVID-19.2 call for projects proposes to question the mechanisms of adaptation that promote the resilience of individuals and communities; its main objective will be to enhance the contribution of AUF member universities to the development of solutions with technological and/or social impact : to cope with the difficulties caused by the prolongation of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to identify innovative, frugal and ecosystem-adapted initiatives to support societies weakened by the consequences of a health crisis that is set to last.

The typology of eligible projects has been broadened in order to finance research actions, surveys and/or studies devoted to the analysis of the consequences of the health crisis, which propose innovative solutions in the fields of health, science and technology, as well as human, economic and social sciences.

The call for COVID-19.2 projects is aimed primarily at teams of young researchers working on projects benefiting Global South countries, as well as consortia proposing projects with national, regional or international impact. The involvement of the Ministries concerned is encouraged and valued.

The beneficiaries targeted by this new call are:

• Final beneficiaries: educational structures, health structures, structures caring for sick, vulnerable or isolated people, structures fighting against violence or discrimination based on gender, disability or belonging to marginalized environments.

• Direct beneficiaries of the funding: higher education institutions that are members of the AUF, for the benefit of students, student associations or clubs, engineering students, young researchers, laboratories or research centers that integrate young researchers, Fablab or incubator animators.