The African-European Museum Partnership initiative is the result of a process that started in 2022 in Berlin among a group of African and European museum directors who shared the assessment that too few formats existed for African and European museums to interact, share knowledge and set up partnerships that transcend bilateral cooperation. In April 2023, 60 African and European museum directors from 28 African and 12 European countries gathered at an international forum in Dakar. Via the Dakar Declaration, the signatories expressed their shared ambition to strengthen partnerships between museums in Africa and Europe.

The “African-European Museum Partnership” Initiative has three pillars – exhibitions, collections, and empowerment – and aims to achieve the following two results:

1. Strengthen EU-Africa and intra-Africa cultural cooperation and promote intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity across the continent.
   
   
2. Protect and promote African cultural heritage to become a vector for social cohesion, stability, cultural tourism, jobs and sustainable growth.

Target groups are mainly African and European museums, museum professionals, universities and specialised training organisations or initiatives. Beneficiaries include youth, schools, communities of origin and diaspora communities, civil society, artists, public sector entities (e.g. ministries of culture, education, tourism, foreign affairs), and private sector actors.

Based on an innovative Team Africa-Europe approach, this Initiative places partnership and co-creation at the centre of its activities with the implementation of two governance bodies:

• An African European Strategic Steer validates the overall policy and strategic orientations of the Initiative. It consists of representatives of the African Union Commission, the European Commission (led by the European Union Delegation to the African Union) and the contributing EU Member States (Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands). African Union Member States join the Steer to reach equal representation.
• An African European Advisory Board consists of members of the Committee of Museum Directors created to follow up on the implementation of the Dakar Declaration, African training institutions such as the Ecole du Patrimoine Africain (Benin) and the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Democratic Republic of Congo), and representatives of multilateral bodies such as UNESCO and the African Regional Alliance of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

The innovative governance and implementation of this Team Africa-Europe approach aim to ensure that the ambition of the Partnership remains in line with the vision set by the African and European museum directors who signed the Dakar Declaration of 2023.

The initiative has a budget of EUR 19,9M, financed by the European Commission and including additional contributions by EU Member States Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Implementing partners are the Goethe Institute (GI) and Expertise France (EF). A Technical Assistance team supports the coherence of the implementation work across all activities.

Italy has joined the African-European Museum Partnership, pursuing the same objectives, by a parallel project entitled “Strengthening African-Italian Museum Partnerships”. This initiative concentrates on the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Its budget of an additional EUR 4M is implemented by the Italian cooperation agency (AICS).

In this context, Expertise France launched two calls for proposals on 5 October 2026:

• Innovative and Sustainable Exhibitions;
• Mediation and Public Engagement. 

Expertise France is recruiting a pool of external evaluators to review and evaluate the shortlisted applications against the criteria defined in the relevant call for proposals. Their role will consist of providing structured, objective and evidence-based assessments and recommendations on the quality, relevance, feasibility and expected results of the submitted projects.