Financed by AFD and led by Afeid1, COSTEA brings together a community of international experts, with the aim of contributing to improving the effectiveness of irrigation policies and projects.

COSTEA aims to produce knowledge, analyse feedback, compare points of view and question the renewal of public irrigation policies and hydro-agricultural developments. Its aim is therefore to contribute to the development of a position on the modalities of irrigated agriculture and to provide support in the development and implementation of irrigation policies and projects.

It brings together, on a voluntary basis, experts in the irrigation sector in France and internationally, involving as far as possible the project owners in the countries where AFD operates and all the players with whom they interact at various levels of government, universities and research institutes, NGOs, professional organisations and associations of irrigators and industry players.

Since it was set up in 2013 as part of a project financed by AFD to support the growing demand from southern countries for reinvestment in irrigation, the programme’s ambition has been established both through its renewal for 4 years in 2017, and through the links established with the “Sahel Initiative” (SILS) project supported by the World Bank.

Thus, after a successful first phase of setting up this committee (2013-2016) supported by AFD to the tune of €1.2m, a second, more ambitious €5m phase was launched and is ongoing (2017-2023).