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EU Geographical Aid Programmes

Thierry Barbé, Area Coordinator for Western Africa, EuropeAid Cooperation Office

What are the prioritized topics for EU funding projects in Western Africa?

Generally speaking, geographical aid which is part of the EU help programmes funded under the European Development Fund for Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Region (ACP) can be divided into three parts. These are: o Budget help which is a direct financial allocation from the European Commission going to beneficiary States’ national budgets and aiming at facing local challenges in social and economic areas: fight against corruption, health problems etc. This kind of help represents one third of EU geographical help to Western Africa.
o Development of local infrastructure is the second variety of EU geographical aid. It usually deals with construction of roads, hospitals, schools, development of transport and energy systems as well as drinking water supply or sanitation nets projects. For example, we support projects of transport building which connect seaports to large cities in landlocked countries like Burkina Faso, Niger or Mali.
o Financial assistance to actions in various fields like health, education, agriculture, rural development, organisation of local elections, financial management or justice, statistics and local non-governmental actors’ activities represent the final third of EU geographical aid to Western Africa. The themes here are chosen depending on existing priorities and demands coming from the beneficiary countries. The EU Commission considers the regional economic integration one of the basis of successful development, and fostering regional integration in countries and regions where it acts, is a major priority for EU. These programmes contribute to regional integration in Western Africa.

Are geographical aid programmes somehow linked to those which are implemented under EU thematic aid programmes?



The interaction between the two folders of the EU help programmes that you have mentioned is defined by the Code of Conduct existing between the EU Member States and the EU Commission which rules the work division and which encourages all stakeholders to act complimentarily while programming and implementing EU interventions whatever their origin would be (geographical or thematic help). We therefore target this interoperability and try to avoid any collision and contradiction of our activities with adopted indicative programmes and EU Member States’ activities. The major part of the geographical financial aid allocated to Western Africa is funded under the European Development Fund (EFD) which is one of the EU’s financial instruments for development policy. Generally speaking, geographical aid programmes are designed in a tight relationship with the beneficiary countries which means that their demand, needs and priorities are regularly taken into consideration and this constitutes these programmes’ added value making them more consistent and relevant.



As for thematic help programmes, which have more vast and global ambition, they usually are designed by the EU Commission by itself. They are consequently less oriented towards satisfying the local specificities in the beneficiary countries.



Can actors from EU Member States (firms, associations, non-state organisations…) participate to your activities in Western Africa?



Absolutely! Not only they can be active in our projects but we constantly encourage them to do so and their implication is given a warm welcome! In terms of the Cotonu Agreement products and services coming both from EU and ACP area are given an equal treatment in regards with funding under the EFD. Today, we are trying to involve even more European (and non-European as well) stakeholders in our development projects in Western Africa. We have a real need for actors specialized in construction and design works in our area, for example.



When it comes to funding opportunities, non-state and non-governmental actors can benefit from financial support in the framework of geographical aid, as well as under thematic programmes.



If you were to give a piece of advice to actors willing to get involved in development projects in Western Africa, what would it be?



It is absolutely capital to follow the general information and notices about the calls for projects and proposals launched by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office. It is also important to be familiar with the major programmes managing EU interventions on thematic, national or regional levels in a given country. As I have already said, we highly encourage participation of firms or non-state actors in our activity and look really forward to augment their number.