Fifty-eight years of Franco-German friendship were celebrated in the Béthune Valley during a warm reunion among friends of the sister city committee.

In Switzerland, long summer evenings often go hand in hand with littering in parks. The IGSU reports that littering is caused by factors such as alcohol, anonymity, and an environment that is already polluted.

In response to the growing impact of climate change on farms, the Beninese government is strengthening its measures to protect farmers. On Friday, August 7, 2026, in Cotonou, 561.8 million CFA francs in compensation were allocated to rice and cotton farmers affected by yield losses during the 2025–2026 growing season. This concrete response confirms the growing importance of agricultural insurance in Benin.

Members of the Kilmacow (Ireland) sister city committee arrived in Saint-Thurien (Finistère) for a visit from July 25 to August 1, 2026. On Sunday, the twinning committee and the municipality organized a ceremony at the community center to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the twinning.

In response to security challenges and the rise of disinformation, the NGO Acra is organizing a capacity-building workshop for journalists on August 4 and 5, 2026, in Ouagadougou. As part of the Pense Libre project, this session will focus on conflict-sensitive journalism, combating disinformation, the responsible use of social media and artificial intelligence, and more. Through this initiative, the organization aims to contribute to higher-quality news coverage and strengthen the media’s role in promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence in Burkina Faso.

After several years of supporting the development of volunteer-based community organizations in its area, the City of Marseille and the LPO Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur signed a multi-year partnership agreement in 2025 to better understand, protect, and promote the region’s natural heritage.

Residents and students in La Pocatière can now take advantage of a bike-sharing service. The project has finally come to fruition. Electric bikes have been available since last week.

At the fishing pier in Kafountine, a town located in the northwest of the Bignona department (south), dozens of women carry on—amid the heat, smoke, and fishy odors—a trade that is as grueling as it is essential to the local fishing economy: smoking fish. Thanks to expertise passed down from generation to generation, they derive most of their income from artisanal fish processing, even as they expose themselves to health risks on a daily basis.

The Locminé Sister City Committee welcomed its counterparts from Medebach for a visit marked by friendship and cultural exchange.

The Minister of Social Affairs and Humanitarian Action, Lydie Pongault, presided over the ceremony on July 29 at the headquarters of the Single Social Registry in Brazzaville to award certificates of completion to young people who had completed training as part of the Social Protection and Productive Inclusion of Youth (PSIPJ) project.

Togo is strengthening its system for ensuring the quality of products sold within its borders. Following the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, July 30, 2026, the government issued a decree establishing a national mechanism to assess the compliance of domestic and imported products before they are placed on the market.

After three months of pilot operation, the platform has registered more than 14,000 job seekers and more than 5,000 companies offering nearly 300,000 job openings.

From June 22 to 30, 2026, the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) organized, as part of the ETHISSA project co-funded by the European Union, a training program focused on the digitization of educational programs. This initiative helped strengthen the partner institutions’ skills in designing and implementing online courses in bioethics.

For nearly twelve years, the Argentré–Romania Association has been participating in a sister-city program with Reviga (Romania). And this year is no exception. From August 26 to 31, 29 Romanians will be hosted by families who were themselves hosted in Reviga in August 2025.

Marie-Claude Giraud serves as president, alongside Aurélie Torreilles (vice president), Gilles Pouyllau (treasurer), and Michel Borraz (secretary). On this occasion, Jackie Darrax was named an honorary member.

The Women's Education and Training Center, located in the municipality of Khemis Anjra, in the province of Fahs-Anjra, serves as a model for a community-based social organization dedicated to building women's skills and promoting their socioeconomic empowerment, particularly in rural areas, thanks to support from the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH).

Seven young people from Lindenfels spent a week in Moëlan-sur-Mer as part of the annual exchange program between the two towns. Upon their arrival at the Quimperlé train station on Monday, July 20, 2026, the students were met by committee members and then welcomed in Moëlan by their Breton exchange partners and host families.

The majority of agricultural soils in Benin are becoming increasingly depleted, leading to low agricultural productivity. The project “Sustainable Food Systems for Greater Resilience and Food and Nutritional Security in Benin,” which the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries officially launched on Friday, July 24, 2026, at the Benin Royal Hotel in Cotonou, is designed to provide a sustainable solution to this scourge that is undermining Benin’s agriculture.

The 454 Welcome Center, which has been located at St. Alban’s Church in the Côte-de-Sable neighborhood for several decades, is expected to move sometime in the new year.

Ten months after its launch, the regional instant payment platform continues to expand across the WAEMU. While early adoption figures are encouraging, connecting all financial institutions remains a challenge ahead of the September deadline.