CIDAF-UCM REPORT 2023-2024
CIDAF-UCM, until June 2021 known as “África Fundación Sur” (AFS), works since 1979 in information, education, documentation, promotion of JPIC, dialogue and integral development in all that concerns the African continent. (AFS included: CARITAS, Manos Unidas and M. of Africa).
The objectives continue to be basically the same, but now enlarged and enriched by the eighty thousand students and professors and the academic programs of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) to present African history, cultures and societies, and present developments to all concerned. The indicators of the Web reveal that the impact of our programs and activities have multiplied very considerably, particularly in the Spanish speaking world.
The target groups are always: young people and educators, social leaders, politicians, business people and many world universities, collaborating with African institutions and societies.
The means at our disposal are: the Web and ICT, an agreement with Radio Televisión Española – Radio Exterior de España (RTVE-REE), our own podcasts and radio programs, digital publications, the UCM Master’s Degree on Culture and Thought of Black Peoples, the various annual seminars and conferences and networking with other groups interested in Africa. We have two professionals and dozens of volunteers who are essential collaborators for us. Some of our confreres, Bartolomé Burgos, Lázaro Bustince, Ramón Echeverría and Jesús Zubiría, are constantly involved in the publication of editorials, articles, academic seminars and other materials for the Web cidafucm.es
The empowerment of our students and professors, with the African culture, wisdom and values, is a very valuable contribution of our missionary commitment to build a more just and fraternal society. These educational programs on African history, ethics, developments, challenges and humanity, help to open up the minds and hearts of our societies to welcome people from all cultures and races.
We wish to share with you some impact indicators, to see the relevance of CIDAF-UCM.
1. The WEB: cidafucm.es (X; @cidaf_ucm – Facebook)
The African Knowledge Portal (https://cidafucm.es/) has become a reference in the Spanish-speaking world for more news, analysis, articles, events, studies and relevant publications about Africa. During the past year, 2,447 entries (articles) have been published, including: news, editorials, reports, ED+JPIC, agendas, cultures, interviews, blogs and job offers. This website receives an average of 2.500 different visits per day. We have nearly 3,000 followers on X, as well as a significant presence on Facebook (reaching the maximum allowed for a page of our entity) and we send our followers (3.800) a weekly newsletter with the most relevant information. Every day, all the entries featured on the Knowledge Portal on Africa are uploaded to social media.
2. Podcast/Radio Programs
CIDAF-UCM still produces and presents four types of podcast/radio programs:
- “Africanía” consists in a one-hour program with editorial, news on Africa, interviews, flavoured with African music. This program is presented to the “Union of Regional Radios” of Spain and South America, and 35 regional and local radios broadcast regularly our programs, which receive 108 downloads a week (5.605 a year).
- “La Otra Cara de África” consists in a five-minutes program to present the other face or less known face of Africa. The same 35 radio
sstations broadcast our program which receives 62 downloads a week (3.243 a year). - “Africa Hoy” (Africa Today) is a program of the Spanish National Radio Group (RTVE). This program consists of an interview, every Friday, lasting 20-30 minutes, to analyze the most relevant news and events which have taken place during the week in the African Continent. This program has the capacity to reach several millions of Spanish speaking citizens in the world.
- The “CIDAF-UCM Reports” is one of the first projects to emerge from the agreement between the African Information and Documentation Centre and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). It aims to address, in an analytical and in-depth manner, the most relevant issues that shape African current affairs. The “CIDAF-UCM Reports” present the most prominent specialists, who provide us, in a dynamic way, with the keys to understand the reality of the African continent. We are committed to a format that aims to combine the entertaining and the academic to inform citizens who are aware of the current global interdependence and the relationships that exist between their lives and those of African societies.
3. University Courses and Webinars
Each academic year, CIDAF-UCM offers different thematic courses on Africa at the university.
The Master’s Degree on Culture and Thought of Black Peoples is taught online and lasts nine months (from October to July). Its objective is to provide comprehensive knowledge about the history, arts, culture and thought of black-African peoples, claiming their wealth, both in Africa and in the diaspora. This proposal goes beyond the merely intellectual. It aims to join the effort to build a more democratic and inclusive society, far from the prejudices and stereotypes that hinder understanding, and capable of hosting the diversity of the human race. Every year, hundreds of students, in addition to those enrolled, can follow the master’s programs online.
There are two agreements with universities, UCM and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, for the completion of internships at CIDAF-UCM by their students. This entails the tutoring and training of these students.
Another relevant aspect is the three Webinars that we offer each year, in collaboration with several African universities, colleagues and many African students in Spain, on relevant topics such as: Insecurity in the Sahel, the Situation of Afro-Descendants in the World, Africa in Global Geopolitics, etc., which you can find on the YouTube channel of the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology of the UCM.
The fundamental objective is to build a global community based on the values of solidarity, justice, sustainable development and peace. This is a Mission for which it is worth working together.
4. Google
CIDAF-UCM has an excellent position in the main searching programs (SEO), like Google Spain, where CIDAF-UCM is found in the first places, in all Africa-related topics.
5. CIDAF-UCM is as a venue of Encounter: New Headquarters
The UCM has built new headquarters for the CIDAF-UCM that we hope to be able to open by September of this year. Making this space operational is our challenge for the future. To do this we must get the professors and students, as well as the different entities that work with Africa at the UCM, involved in its development. This is what will make the CIDAF-UCM a successful, lively and sustainable center.
The objective is to hold classes, seminars and conferences in its space, as well as use the facilities to present new books and theses on Africa, written by African authors and others. In addition, it must be a meeting place for Africans in Madrid and for their ambassadors. (The Ambassador of South Africa has already collaborated with the CIDAF-UCM). We welcome this space where African students can not only develop their research, with the support of the 24,000 monographs, newspaper library, archive, maps, sound background and all the material that the CIDAF-UCM Library has, but also where they feel welcome and supported in their research and personal development.
We sincerely thank you for your concern and all your support in allowing us to carry out these activities and Mission, always focused on the African people and the world.
Lázaro Bustince, M.Afr. and Rafael Sánchez.
Coordinators of CIDAF-UCM
26 June 2024
Pictures of the last webinar in May 2024, on Africa in global geopolitics.
