Since 2008, the DFG-funded Point Sud program has been funding events in the humanities and social sciences related to Africa. These events are selected by an academic steering committee through an annual call for proposals. The program’s primary goal is to foster exchange and networking among scholars from Germany, Africa, and other parts of the world. In addition, supporting early-career scholars plays a central role.
The program is organized as a consortium that is led by Goethe University - which also funds the Point Sud Research Center in Bamako, Mali. The consortium comprises of institutions in Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and France. As a result, the program has a presence in all of Africa’s language regions.