We describe the Italy-South Africa Research Program 2018–2020, focusing on the mobility scheme “Algebraic Graph Theory and Complex Networks” which supported a series of scientific initiatives between the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa) and the University of Naples Federico II (Naples, Italy) during the years 2018–2021. We sketch the relevant steps of the collaboration, focusing on the creation of a network of researchers between Italy and South Africa in the fields of Graph Theory and Combinatorics. In this context it becomes more relevant the role of the “Workshop on Graphs, Topology and Topological Groups 2021” and of the corresponding proceedings