Our university identity is derived from our vision, our missions and our values. It is built on the projects we implement, our approach, our methodologies and our priorities. It is our multiform proximity to the Université libre de Bruxelles that reinforces this identity on a daily basis. Exchanges about our projects with academic and research staff, the strong presence of the university in our board of directors, our presence on the campus in Brussels, or the regular hosting of interns at the headquarters or in one of the fields of activity in Burkina Faso, DR Congo or Senegal, are all ways to bring our university NGO to life.

This specificity of university NGO constitutes the common base that we share with the NGOs Louvain CoopérationEclosio and FUCID within the Uni4Coop.

 

The added value of the university is expressed through four characteristics:

  • ULB-Cooperation is “anchored” in its university, i.e. present on the campus, in regular collaboration with the various ULB actors.
  • It is “scholarly“, i.e. it undertakes actions on a scientifically objective basis, plans its actions in a logical sequence, associates research with actions in the field, calls on experts, collaborates in the writing of publications, etc.
  • Intermediary“, i.e. facilitating and maintaining links between academic and civil society actors, allowing scientists to benefit from the expertise of local populations/actors, and vice versa.
  • Innovative“, i.e. initiating action research, promoting an interdisciplinary approach, generating new knowledge, offering a creative perspective. In a transversal way, it is the management of knowledge that is at the heart of our university identity, and it is on this question that we work, to build proposals for useful and effective practices.

In concrete terms, our health projects are a fertile ground for research and action research that feed the creation of useful knowledge. Whether it is a question of thinking about a more appropriate supply of health care in a highly urbanized environment, or the path towards the establishment of universal health coverage, the collaborators of ULB-Cooperation are mobilized to think about and produce elements that will make it possible to improve the living conditions of populations. In agri-environment, trainees, students and doctoral students have access to land that is a source of multiple experiments in agronomy, sustainable environment, sociology… In Burkina Faso, a partnership around a university research project is addressing issues of protected area management by balancing the sometimes divergent needs of the parties involved. Issues related to the monitoring and evaluation of cooperation projects, ways of approaching and inciting change at societal levels are also areas of training and active reflection.

In a transversal way, the question of knowledge management is at the heart of the university’s identity, in order to build practical and efficient proposals on the way to societies that respect fundamental rights and equitable international relations.

Dorian sur le terrain

The university NGO acts with its partners

Our NGO is part of a dense network of partners for the benefit of the populations of Burkina Faso, DR Congo and Senegal.

Together, they aim to enable:

  • A critical reflection on development and development cooperation policies;
  • Critical analysis of each intervention;
  • The co-realization of action-research, applied or more fundamental based on the experience and needs of stakeholders and beneficiaries;
  • The development and dissemination of new technologies and scientific and operational methodologies;
  • The organization of a scientific watch.

Co-creating solutions is at the heart of our mission. And while the principle is obvious to many, its applicability poses some challenges. How do we approach a multidimensional problem together? Which approach, which tools to use? How do we learn from each other’s past experiences? Where to look for useful information? How do we take advantage of knowledge in all its forms? How can we encourage creativity in order to create innovations adapted to each context? And above all, how can we evaluate them while taking into account the positions of each person?

étudiants sur le terrain