Client: ERAIFT - UNESCO Category 2 Center, the Regional postgraduate institution dedicated to integrated management and planning of tropical forests and lands.

Strengthening the long term capacity and global visibility of a leading higher education institution

Context

Since 1999, ERAIFT has trained senior professionals who now occupy key roles across Africa’s biodiversity conservation, forestry, and land-use industries.

Despite its academic excellence and strategic relevance, ERAIFT faced a set of structural challenges: limited international visibility, project-based scholarship funding, and fragile links between advanced academic training and evolving sustainability careers.

Addressing these challenges required more than isolated communication or fundraising actions. It called for a coordinated, multi-year approach aimed at strengthening ERAIFT’s institutional ecosystem.

Our role

From isolated initiatives to a coherent institutional strategy

Over a three-year period, we partnered with ERAIFT to design and implement a series of complementary initiatives addressing different, but interdependent, dimensions of institutional sustainability.

Rather than treating each assignment as a standalone project, our work was intentionally structured around long-term capacity building, international positioning, and the strengthening of ERAIFT’s role within global and African sustainability ecosystems.

Strategic levers activated

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    1. International fundraising and partnerships

    We designed and coordinated a USA-based fundraising campaign targeting philanthropic and institutional networks.

    This initiative aimed not only to raise funds for scholarships, but also to reposition ERAIFT as a strategic partner for institutions engaged in sustainability.

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    2. Institutional narrative and donor-facing communication

    With funding from the EU, we developed a comprehensive ERAIFT brochure designed for global donors and partners.

     The objective was to articulate a clear, credible, and forward-looking institutional narrative — one that reflects ERAIFT’s academic rigor, pan-African mandate, and contribution to long-term sustainability outcomes.

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    3. Global visibility in policy and sustainability arenas

    We supported ERAIFT’s participation in the Three Basins Summit, a major international forum focused on climate finance.

     Our work covered the full visibility strategy: exhibition presence, speaking opportunities, and strategic communication. This initiative positioned ERAIFT not merely as an academic institution, but as a thought partner within global discussions on forest governance and climate-related challenges.

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    4. Career pathways and local skills ecosystems

    We produced a series of activities focused on advanced employability and green career management.

     This event connects future conservation leaders with employers, institutions, and projects, contributing to clearer career pathways and stronger links between training and labor markets.

Outcomes and institutional effects

 Over time, this integrated body of work contributed to:

While each initiative had its own objectives, their combined effect was to strengthen ERAIFT’s long-term resilience as a pan-African sustainability institution.

This engagement illustrates our conviction that sustainability-oriented institutions cannot be strengthened through isolated actions alone. Durable impact requires aligned interventions across funding, visibility, partnerships, and human capital.

Why this case matters