Cooperate, Innovate, Act Together

Action Group for a Strong and Sustainable Francophone African Blue Community.

Download the original French document (PDF): Groupe d’Action -Vision prospective

1. Introduction

In response to the invitation extended to us to initiate a Youth Action Group for the Francophone African Blue Community (GAJCBAF), we propose the following for consideration.

2. Vision of the GAJCBAF

The Francophone African Blue Community is a continental platform for cooperation, innovation, and solidarity, where experienced organizations, youth movements, researchers, communities, and technical partners work together to develop sustainable solutions for the right to water, ecosystem protection, and the resilience of African communities.

Beyond a space for exchanges and advocacy, this platform will also aim to promote the design of joint projects, the pooling of skills, the collective mobilization of funding and the implementation of high-impact regional or national initiatives to be one of the actors in the practice of the right to water, the protection of ecosystems and community and African resilience.

3. Slogan

Cooperate, innovate, act together to protect water and the environment

4. Five main pillars

PILLAR 1: Capacity building and intergenerational cooperation
This pillar will initiate:

An African Mentoring Program;
An African University of the Blue Community;
An African Consortium or Network of Young Ambassadors for Water, Ecosystem Protection, and Community Resilience.

The objectives of this first pillar will be:

To support young organizations in their development or in their national advocacy or activism projects (experienced organizations within the group will support young or emerging ones);
To share experiences among peers;
To strengthen the institutional and organizational capacities of young people;
To develop youth leadership;
To promote South-South exchanges;
To create sustainable partnerships between South-South organizations and with other CBI members.

PILLAR 2: Knowledge Sharing and Continental Mobilization:

Within the group, an African Platform for producing and documenting experiences and sharing knowledge on water, climate, biodiversity, community resilience, and youth;
Continental campaigns on these various factors related to water issues.

Its objectives will be to:

Create a virtual space for disseminating knowledge and innovations;
Share best practices among its members and, moreover, between them and other partners or donors through guides;
Strengthen continental advocacy;
Raise awareness among populations and empower them to take local action.

PILLAR 3: Territorial Deployment and Network Governance

This pillar of GAJCBAF focuses on decentralizing the actions of CBI and CBA. It will strive to establish:

Local Blue Communities in the municipalities, cantons, and villages of member countries to empower communities not only in their own actions but also in national advocacy;
A collaborative fund for certain small-scale national water activism initiatives;
An annual African Forum, held virtually or in person, rotating among the member countries.

Objectives:

To support the creation of Blue Communities at the local level in each country to prevent the fight from remaining solely an elitist endeavor;
To provide financial support for local initiatives;
To foster exchanges between the local Blue Communities in each country;
To ensure network governance;
To assess progress made at the community level;
To define common priorities for projects that meet the needs of formally needy communities.

PILLAR 4: Innovation, Co-creation, and Project Incubation

This pillar will form the operational core of the platform. It will include:

An African Innovation Lab in the field of water;
A Project Incubator for the Blue Africa Community.

Objectives:

To identify the needs of truly vulnerable communities;
To design joint projects between several member organizations, based on the group’s experiences and innovations;
To develop pilot projects that can be replicated in several countries;
To build multidisciplinary teams around the group’s shared challenges.

Priority areas:

Drinking water;
Surface water and watershed pollution;
Hygiene and sanitation;
Climate mitigation and adaptation: restoration of degraded areas, reforestation, and agroecology;
Environmental education;
Sustainable ecotourism.

Each project will be carried out collectively by several member organizations from different neighboring countries in order to promote mutual learning and strengthen the chances of obtaining international funding.

PILLAR 5: Resource Mobilization and Strategic Partnerships

Today, most African networks are good spaces for exchange, advocacy, lobbying, etc., but few have mechanisms for co-constructing projects and collectively mobilizing resources. While the communities we support, beyond exchanges, knowledge sharing, advocacy, and activism, want access to quality drinking water nearby and to safe drinking water. This is precisely what will give real added value to the Blue Community Africa Action Group, a mechanism

Activities

A permanent monitoring unit for international calls for projects to build a database of funders interested in water, climate, biodiversity, and youth, or a section to connect members with financial partners.
A joint project development committee in tandem with the relevant communities or to support members in drafting proposals to make them fundable;
Identify calls for proposals suited to the skills and size of member organizations;
Prepare joint responses to calls for proposals;
Negotiate partnerships with international donors;
Mobilize funding for national and regional initiatives.

Objectives

Identify the needs expressed by member organizations;
Form consortia between organizations from different countries;
Coordinate the preparation of project proposals;
Transform these needs into structured projects;
Identify funding opportunities;
Support negotiations with donors;
Monitor funded projects and document lessons learned.

5. Conclusion

These proposals will transform the CBI African Action Group from a network for exchange and activism into a platform for operational cooperation. Members will no longer simply share experiences; they will jointly design projects, collectively mobilize funding, implement joint actions, and capitalize on their results. It is this capacity to create a strong African society, not only for advocacy but also for responding collectively to donor appeals, that will give the Action Group real added value and strengthen its credibility with their communities and, consequently, with technical and financial partners. This dimension of concrete cooperation among members constitutes, in our view, one of the main strengths of this document.

Discussed by members of the Blue Communities in Francophone Africa during video meetings on July 5, July 22, and August 30.

Written by Souleymane Guindo, Coordinator of the Francophone African Blue Community

Adopted on August 30, 2026 by the Francophone African Blue Communities:
BLUE COMMUNITY (alphabetical order) – Signed by:

AJPPC National Youth Association for the Promotion of Patriotism and Citizenship in Mali- Sibiri Koné

IAMDES Togo. Alternative Institute for Models and Methods of Economic and Social Development – Sassou B. Koffi Etchri

Radio Bonesha FM Burundi – Willy Kwizera

RadioChico School Network Mali – Tièdiè TOGOLA

RadioChico School Network Guinea – Nabi Laye Camara