Baud Schoenmaeckers

Baudouin (Baud) G. Schoenmaeckers studied political science, followed by communication sciences. He has an 'old-fashioned' Drs. title. He did his final thesis in the search for the (im)possibilities of African press freedom. In the Netherlands, freedom of the press is commonplace; in most African countries, it is the exception. But journalists are active everywhere, they want the press to serve the people, they want to expose injustice. This creates an interesting field of tension and boundaries are being pushed everywhere.

After his studies, he worked in climate communication. He translates scientific research on causes, consequences and possibilities of adaptation to climate change in the direction of politics, policy and society. Since 1996, he has been an entrepreneur in this field and since 2017, his work in Africa has increased. He helps the Université Africaine de Science Technique et Médicale (UASTM) to further professionalise and together they set up an incubator (Niamey, Niger). He has worked on an incubator with the University of Applied Science Rotterdam and with the Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) in Zimbabwe. The objective was to help young people become agripreneurs; entrepreneurs somewhere in the value chain of agriculture. Actually, he is working with the Dutch government on an agriculture and entrepreneurship project in Niger. This www.hortihubniger.com has a twofold objective. The first is to help Nigerien farmers with Dutch knowledge and techniques to produce better, more and more climate-resiliently. The other line is to guide agricultural students to become agripreneurs. In all cases the objective is to involve as many women as possible in the projects.

He has set up a platform for children and teachers in French-speaking Africa (www.petitpouss.fr). The goal is to serve the 22 French-speaking African countries. There are now teams in Niamey (Niger) and Lomé (Togo). Later this year, he hopes to start in N'Djamena (Chad) as well. His focus is on the countries of the Sahel.