Deadline: 3rd November 2022

Interreg-Euro-Med has launched its third call for governance projects.

The Programme's main objective is to contribute to the transition to a climate-neutral and resilient society: fighting the impact of global change on Mediterranean resources while ensuring sustainable growth and the well-being of its citizens. In pursuing this objective, the Programme aims to strengthen the role of the environment as a catalyst for improving the quality of human life.

To this end, the Programme has selected 3 priorities to work on: Smarter, greener and better governed Mediterranean. The first two priorities are directly linked to thematic issues and will therefore be tackled by thematic projects related to a specific issue, while the third focuses on the quality of governance of co-operation between actors and will be tackled by governance-type projects aimed more specifically at improving co-ordination between actors.

Thematic projects

Governance projects are divided into two categories:

• Thematic Community Projects will aim to animate a community of projects to enable exchanges and synergies between projects and favour the technical transfer and integration of the results of thematic projects into the practices and policies of the Euro-MED territories.
• Institutional dialogue projects will aim to support the work of transferring and integrating results into the practices and policies undertaken by the Thematic Community Projects in the Euro-MED territories, by articulating activities and improving coordination with actors inside and outside the Euro-MED area.
  • Each thematic project will fall under one of the 4 specific objectives (SO) selected by the programme:
    • Consolidating a competitive innovation ecosystem with 4helix stakeholders,
    • Supporting the transition to a circular economy ,
    • Improving the management of natural resources,
    • Preventing and mitigating risks, supporting the energy transition and greener living areas.
  • Each of the projects working under these specific objectives will operate to fulfil one of the 4 missions of complementary global programmes that federate projects working under different OSs:
    • Strengthening an innovative sustainable economy,
    • Protecting, restoring and enhancing the natural environment and heritage,
    • Promoting green areas,
    • Valuing sustainable tourism (approached across the board).

Mira

• The thematic community projects will specifically target:
  • To establish conditions for the reuse of results, the development of synergies and increased coordination between thematic projects working towards the same mission, articulating a community of Interreg Euro-MED project partners (Target area: Programme area / Target audience: Project programme partners),
  • The implementation of transfer and integration strategies for Euro-MED thematic projects results in the practices of public and private actors at local, regional and national level, providing technical support to relevant institutions (Target area: Programme area / Target audience: actors from national territories).
• The Institutional Dialogue Projects will aim to:
  • Contribute to the implementation of transfer and integration strategies by engaging with local, regional and national authorities in support of the activities and achievements of the Thematic Community Projects (Target area: Programme area / Target audience: local, regional and national authority actors),
  • Contribute to the implementation of transfer and integration strategies through involvement with European authorities/networks and ETC management authorities, initiatives and strategies in the Mediterranean (target area: Mediterranean area / target audience: transnational networks and institutions),
  • Create lasting conditions for permanent institutional and social dialogue to bridge the gap between the transnational dimension and local solutions, in order to contribute to territorial cohesion at transnational Mediterranean level in each thematic mission (Target area: Mediterranean Area / Target audience: key players, including institutions and civil society representatives).

Financing information

• The indicative financial allocation for this call for proposals is around 17 million euros in total (Interreg funds + national co-financing).

Expected outputs

2 The results indicators were selected by Governance Programme Axis and apply to both types of governance projects:

• Output indicator "Jointly developed solutions"
  • The indicator counts the number of solutions developed jointly between different projects or with external actors in the programme that contribute to improving the governance of cooperation for the area. To be counted in the indicator, an identified action must include indications of the type of co-operation and projects involved or interested. A jointly developed action implies the involvement of organisations from at least two projects or one project and an external organisation in the process of drawing up and designing the action. Jointly developed actions resulting from cooperation in funded projects are necessary to support better governance of cooperation and to:
    • Establish conditions for synergy and coordination between thematic projects.
    • Implement integration strategies in local, regional, national and European policies in partnership with relevant institutions.
    • Support institutional coordination between regional, national and European authorities/networks and between ETC management authorities, initiatives and strategies in the Mediterranean.
    • Create lasting conditions for permanent institutional dialogue.
  • The targeted actions relate to:
    • Actions related to support for transfer and integration.
    • Actions related to joint advocacy/lobbying.
    • Actions related to the drafting of common documents aimed at solutions that contribute to the fulfilment of the Programme's missions.
    • Actions related to supporting institutional coordination between projects and initiatives/strategies.
    • Actions related to the design of coordinated approaches.
    • Actions related to the implementation of articulation activities.
• Output indicator "Organisations cooperating across borders"
  • The indicator counts organisations that formally cooperate on supported projects. The main target groups are represented by: regional and national authorities, networks of decision-makers, protected areas, energy and environment agencies, business management organisations/agencies, universities/research centres, NGOs/communities and local associations, which work to strengthen synergies and coordination between thematic projects and support institutional coordination for the Programme's missions. Cooperation between organisations across borders is essential to ensure the optimisation of resources for a greater positive impact on territories, the harmonisation of policies for better territorial cohesion.
  • This result indicator, counting both project partners and associated partners, will make it possible to measure cooperation between organisations not only within the Programme area, but also in the wider Mediterranean area, mainly with the countries of the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean.

Eligibility criteria

• The project meets the minimum criteria regarding the composition of the partnership: 6 partners representing 6 different countries in the Interreg Euro - MED Programme area.
• At least one (1) partnership structure is based in the EU area of the Interreg EuroMED Programme and one (1) in the IPA area.
• The Lead Partner is a public body or a body governed by public law (as defined in Directive 2014/24/EU).

For more information, visit https://interreg-euro-med.eu/en/call-3-governance-projects/