NETWORKING FOR DEVELOPMENT: FROM TOWN TWINING TO A MORE EFFICIENT COOPERATION
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DECENTRALIZED COOPERATION: THE BENEFITS OF NETWORKING Development policy is each day more complex and multifaceted. Multi-actor partnerships are arising and have proven to be a key element for interventions’ success. However, this uprising demands new approaches and strategies, both at national and international level. Local Authorities’ (LA) role as actors in development processes has broadly increased especially after the 90’s with United Nations and European Union (EU) recognition of the added-value LA bring to development initiatives, which identifies them as key actors in poverty reduction and Millennium Development Goals achievement, in partner countries. Moreover, LA enrolment in development cooperation projects strengthens local communities, mainstreams democratic governance at local level and assembles all local agents, such as citizens, civil society associations, private sector entities and municipality services. As a result, European Commission has recently extended its Budget Lines to LA as a way of encouraging LA enrolment in cooperation initiatives as well as the arising of new partnerships in the framework of Decentralized Cooperation projects.
Nevertheless, there are still several constraints regarding LA active participation in cooperation initiatives, especially regarding the lack of information on communitarian budget lines as well as the weak technical experience on applying procedures and projects’ implementation.
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NETWORKING FOR DEVELOPMENT OVERALL OBJECTIVES: (i)
To promote synergies between International Cooperation Projects as an effective strategy for reducing and achieving the Millennium Development Goals;
(ii)
To promote new communication channels between local national and international authorities, contributing to good governance at local level.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE: To strengthen Portuguese and German Local Authorities’ role as active development cooperation actors. TARGET GROUPS: IN PORTUGAL . 10 Local Authorities . 10 Mayors . 10 Deputy Mayors . 20 Officers in charge of Town Twinning or Decentralized Cooperation (DC) initiatives . Municipality services . 20 Non-State Actors . 40 NGDO
IN GERMANY . 5 Local Authorities . 5 Mayor . 5 Deputy Mayors . 10 Officers in charge of Town Twinning or DC initiatives . 40 Non-State Actors
OTHER STAKEHOLDERS: . 40 Spanish Local Authorities . 40 Spanish Non-State Actors . EC representations in the 3 countries . Committee of the Regions (CoR) of the EC . Development Agencies of the three countries . Local Authorities and Non-State Actors from Southern Countries
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FROM TOWN TWINNING TO A MORE EFFICIENT COOPERATION ﾃグ
Considering Portuguese and German Local Authorities constraints, the project comprises an integrated approach, divided in three main intervention axes:
LA and civil society Awareness Raising
Best Practices Exchange at national and international level between LA and NSA
Training and technical guidance
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RESULTS TO BE ACHIEVED 1. LOCAL AUTHORITIES NETWORK PROMOTED AND STRENGTHENED In order to promote networking between Portuguese local authorities, a National Municipality Net will be created. This Net will join together municipalities with the common objective of actively participate in efficient Cooperation initiatives. With the same goal, a Virtual Platform will be gathering useful information on the topic so that Portuguese and German municipalities may improve their interventions and meet new Cooperation partners. Namely, national and international NGO, private sector and other local authorities. On the other hand, a Diagnosis on German Local Authorities will be produced which, will certainly, trigger new twinning opportunities namely between Portugal and Germany.
2. MULTI-ACTOR PARTNERSHIPS (BOTH AT NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL LEVEL) PROMOTED AND STRENGTHENED Interventions’ success demands a good partnership. In order to trigger new partnerships between different development actors, there will be held several meetings which will gather national and international entities and local actors, promoting new synergies and dynamics within the municipality.
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3. BEST PRACTICES
IN THE AREA OF DEVELOPMENT
(BOTH
AT
NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL LEVEL) DISSEMINATED Best Practice exchange will be transversal to the project. There will be promoted dialogue and reflexion key-moments within Portuguese Local Authorities and national and international non-state actors and funders. Best Practice exchange will also be promoted within North and South LA, especially those from Portuguese Speaking Countries.
4. TARGETED LOCAL AUTHORITIES’
ABILITY TO DEVELOP AND
IMPLEMENT COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IMPROVED, ASSURING, THEREFORE, A MORE EFFICIENT COOPERATION Together with awareness raising activities and Best Practice sharing it is essential to promote the training of Local Authorities officers on the elaboration of Cooperation projects. So that LA can answer directly to Cooperation funding grants, the project entails several training sessions on Project Cycle Management and Monitoring and Evaluation, allowing then, LA officers to reflect, design and implement more effective Development Cooperation projects.
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Contacts: IMVF Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr
Câmara Municipal de Loures
[Portuguese NGDO]
Praça da Liberdade, 4 2674-501 Loures Portugal Tel: +351 211 150 100 Fax: +351 211 151 709 E-mail: geral@cm-loures.pt www.cm-loures.pt
Rua de São Nicolau, 10 1100-548 Lisboa Portugal Tel: +351 213 256 300 Fax: +351 213 471 904 E-mail: info@imvf.org www.imvf.org FINEP Forum für internationale entwicklung + planung [German NGDO]
Hindenburgstr. 2 D-73728 Esslingen Tel: +49711/91242690 Fax: +49711/91242688 E-mail: info@finep.org www.finep.org
[Portuguese Local Authority]
Câmara Municipal da Marinha Grande [Portuguese Local Authority]
Praça Guilherme Stephens 2430-960 Marinha Grande Portugal Tel: +351 244 573 300 Fax: +351 244 561 710 E-mail: geral@cm-grande.pt ww2.cm-grande.pt
FGCS Fondo Galego de Cooperación e Solidariedade [Association of Galician Local Authorities]
Secretaría Técnica Fondo Galego Avda. Joselín, 7 Portal 3, 4ºB 36300 – Baiona Pontevedra, Galicia España Tel: +34 986 35 72 38 Fax: +34 986 35 72 38 E-mail: info@igadi.org www.fondogalego.org
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.