A fruitful meeting was held on Tuesday, 4 November 2025 at the headquarters of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), between representatives of CAFRAD, including its Director General, Dr. Coffi Dieudonné ASSOUVI, and France’s National Institute of Public Service (INSP), represented by Mr. Jérôme Guyon, Deputy Director for International Relations.

Strong Convergences between the Two Institutions

During this meeting, both parties gave a detailed presentation of their institutions, activities, missions, and respective projects.

The two institutions share the same identity: they are responsible for training senior officials and conducting research aimed at transforming public administrations. They prepare leaders to address the challenges of tomorrow’s public action.

The discussions highlighted strong convergences between the objectives of CAFRAD — a pan-African institution dedicated to modernizing public administration across the continent — and those of the INSP, which works to train and develop skills within the French and international senior civil service.

As part of its strategy of openness and international cooperation, the INSP expressed strong interest in establishing a strategic partnership with CAFRAD, praising its historic role in strengthening administrative capacities in Africa and promoting South–South cooperation.

Concrete Avenues for Collaboration

The discussions identified several concrete areas of cooperation between the two institutions, including:

• The Conference of National Schools of Administration (ENAs): The INSP could join this initiative as a member of the co-organizing committee or as a special guest, with a view to fostering North–South exchanges of experience.
• Mobilization of CAFRAD–INSP experts:
  • CAFRAD could call on INSP experts to contribute to its research or training programs.
  • The INSP, for its part, is considering seeking CAFRAD’s support in mobilizing African experts, particularly for short training programmes.
• Joint projects and funding calls: The INSP proposed involving CAFRAD in international projects responding to multilateral calls for proposals, with the aim of strengthening international administrative cooperation and promoting joint research and institutional innovation initiatives.

Next Steps: Towards a Structuring Memorandum of Understanding

The two institutions agreed to quickly begin formalizing this partnership through:

• the development of a joint action plan defining the modalities for implementing the activities under consideration;
• the identification of focal points within each institution to ensure effective operational follow-up;
• the preparation of a draft memorandum of understanding aimed at consolidating and sustainably structuring CAFRAD–INSP cooperation.

A Promising Cooperation for the Development of African Public Sector Capacities

This meeting marks an important milestone in the development of relations between CAFRAD and the INSP, two institutions that share the same ambition: to contribute to excellence and the modernization of public administration at the continental and international levels.

This partnership fully aligns with CAFRAD’s mission to promote the exchange of knowledge, practices, and expertise between Africa and its partners, in a spirit of solidarity, openness, and institutional effectiveness.