After a selection phase conducted by the Francophone University Association, nine higher education and research establishments in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine joined the project in early 2021.

The universities selected will benefit from technical and financial support to strengthen their academic offer in social entrepreneurship and to create dedicated incubation spaces for student entrepreneurs.

Ultimately, the aim is to enable these spaces to incubate social entrepreneurial initiatives developed by students (who will join the Safir incubator network (editor’s note: innovative entrepreneurship support structures, SAEI)) and to organise sessions to raise awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals. They will attend regional meetings of project beneficiaries and will have an annual programme of citizen events.

A further nine higher education and research establishments will be selected as part of a second call for applications.

Safir is an ambitious project supporting youth and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 9 countries across North Africa and the Middle East. Co-funded by the European Union, it aims at creating an enabling environment in favour of youth participation and of the development of entrepreneurial projects with social, cultural and environmental impact. Safir is built around 3 pillars: to provide support to more than 1,000 young project leaders, to develop a regional network of organisations supporting social entrepreneurship, and to accompany the creation of spaces for dialogue between youth and governmental authorities.

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Press release

Safir project – website