The TANDEM project aims to create favourable conditions for WACREN (West and Central African Research and Education Network) to be able to participate in the forthcoming AfricaConnect project extension and to draw maximum benefit from it, and thereby to ensure WACREN’s integration into the global Research and Education networking community. TANDEM long-term goal is to make it possible for researchers and academics to contribute with their peers around the world to the socio-economic development of the West and Central African Region. To this end, TANDEM is structured around three objectives: 1. Enhance the dialogue between WACREN and policy makers, international donors and regulating authorities, in order to promote connectivity and obtain political and financial support; 2. Enhance the dialogue between WACREN, end users, national research and education networks (NRENs) and research and tertiary education institutes, in order to identify the global e-infrastructure services expected by the end users; 3. Build a permanent stakeholder dialogue by creating favourable conditions for the implementation of three main communities: the “policy makers, donors and regulating authorities” community; the NRENs community; the “end users” community. TANDEM provides for the implementation of a virtual collaboration platform in order to support the continuity of communities beyond the end of the project, and to enable monitoring of the e-infrastructure services. In order to respond to the growing demand from African research communities, TANDEM is focused on three key research thematic topics: health, food security, and environment; and on the specific needs of these areas. The consortium was carefully selected to provide a balanced mix of research and e-infrastructure organisations, with diverse experiences in academic issues, research and innovation management. The consortium also brings consolidated experience in implementing and managing large research and education networks

EInfraCentral's mission is to ensure that by 2020 a broader/ more varied set of users (including industry) benefits from European infrastructures. A common approach to defining and monitoring e-infrastructures services will increase their uptake. It will also enhance understanding of where improvement can be made in delivering services. The challenge is to shift towards an e-Infrastructure ''market place'' to initiate new service offerings and to engage with a broader set of users and needs. This will be achieved through an exchange of know-how between e-infrastructures consultations with a broad range of existing or potential users. EInfraCentral will pursue 3 specific objectives: 1. Structure an open and guided discussion between e-infrastructures to consensually define a common service catalogue 2. Develop a one-stop shop portal for users to browse the service catalogue and enhance the monitoring of key performance indicators that focus on availability and quality of services and user satisfaction 3. Draw policy lessons for a future European e-infrastructure market place as an extension of the common service catalogue and portal (incorporating a larger number of e-infrastructures). Key highlights of the proposal are: 1.A multidisciplinary team combining technical knowledge & insights from the e-infrastructure community with independent expertise in community building consultation, policy and data mapping and monitoring 2. A co-design process that will involve funders, the e-research infrastructure community and a representative user group (incl. SMEs) 3. On-going user interaction will guide the design and development of the eInfraCentral portal (as the main entry point to European e-infrastructures services) in two phases: a prototype with a first set of services and a full release with a KPI dashboard 4. Reinforce collaboration between e-infrastructures and optimise access to and increase uptake of e-infrastructures services by end users.