Webinars on Funding Opportunities for African and Latin American Regions
On last October 27 and 29 ORU-Fogar organized two webinars with their African and Latin American members, to speak about the possibilities of funding projects, with the involvement of the General Direction of International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) of the European Commission. With the participation of more than 80 regions from both continents, Anna Lixi, head of the local authorities sector, within Unit C5 (Cities, Local Authorities, Infrastructures, Digital), has presented the “Priorities of the European Union (DG DEVCO) for the Next Programming Period 2021-2027”, one of the priorities highlighted regarding the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, but also the Global Strategy of the External Policy and the Global Security of the European Union.
The webinars, the first one in French and the second one in Spanish, were basically aimed at technical staff of the African and Latin American regions. Through these webinars, ORU-Fogar intended to share European cooperation policies, while allowing its members to get access to sharp knowledge on the way to fund their development projects. Thus, in addition to Anna Lixi, the webinar included a speech by Yoya Alcoceba, responsible for New Funding Strategies and Partnerships of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, who presented the participants with indications and recommendations on how to approach a European project.
Anna Lixi has explain that during the 2021-2027 period, the European Commission will completely change its modalities of cooperation, since, all projects with regional and local governments will have to match with bilateral agreements of the EU with each of the respective countries. Hence, the regional governments will be able to promote the European projects as long as they fit in with the action priorities of their respective countries and within the framework of an administrative reform that favors decentralization. Beyond this national adjustment, Anna Lixi pointed out that for the European Union, it is fundamental to strengthen politics such as the Green Deal (particularly concerning forests protection), immigration policy, growth and employment, and digitalization. All of this to support the fight against inequalities.
Yoya Alcoceba recommended maintaining a good dialogue with both of the European Union offices in the respective countries as well as with focal point of European issues within each central governments, in order to know what will be the national priorities for the next period. She also insisted on the necessity of having a small unit in each region dedicated to the projects while having a minimum of financial resources to undertake the project.
The ORU-Fogar Secretariat committed itself to continue informing on the subject, to facilitate the contact with the delegations of the European Union in the respective countries, to look for partners for the construction of projects when necessary or to recommend technical teams to the regions to elaborate European projects.
