New EU 'flagships' to focus on multilateral aid

The European Union is planning to roll out a series of “flagship” initiatives in the coming years to tackle cross-cutting global development challenges. Funding for smaller, less sustainable projects may decrease as a result, officials tell Devex in an exclusive look at the ongoing negotiations. An initial set of flagships is expected to be finalized sometime next year by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development Cooperation in consultation with members of the European Parliament and other EU departments. Implementation will fall under the regional bloc’s new financial framework, which was finalized last week and spans the years 2014 to 2020. These flagships will focus on cross-cutting challenges in international development – the creation of green jobs, migrant workers’ rights or the intersection of animal and human health, for instance. The goal is to avoid a silo mentality and instead pursue holistic solutions through cross-sector partnerships especially with large multilateral partners. “Instead of making calls and handing out small projects, we would like to create partnerships with relevant organizations that will be able to work with us to achieve greater impact,” Klaus Rudischhauser, EuropeAid deputy director-general for policy and thematic coordination, told Devex. Many of the EU’s long-standing implementing partners – especially large international nonprofits and consulting firms – are not expected to qualify as flagship leaders, Rudischhauser indicated. As a result, he said, there could be “a little less money for NGOs in those areas.” Such funding reductions would be small, though, because the flagships themselves would make up only a small portion of the EU’s overall foreign assistance budget, Rudischhauser added. Still, the creation of global development flagships marks a departure for an aid agency that – like many of its peers – has traditionally implemented projects by handing out grants and contracts to NGO and private sector partners. “We have to recognize that very often small projects aren’t necessarily sustainable,” Rudischhauser said. “As much as they are good in the short term, the kind of long-lasting impact that we look for is difficult to achieve by doing small projects, with very specialized NGOs.” Cross-cutting challenges The list of flagships has not yet been finalized, but according to Rudishhauser, one of them might concern migrant rights, where the EU plans to draw from the expertise and presence on the ground of entities like the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration. Another flagship may focus on responsible resource management, and in particular on making resource exploitation more transparent. Others may focus on the plight of migrant workers, the green economy, or the intersection of animal health and human health, said Nicholas Taylor, head of sector for employment, social inclusion and social protection at EuropeAid. The EU is trying to get “high value for limited funding” without creating new large-scale “vertical” programs like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria & Tuberculosis. The EU has undertaken a “prolonged drafting process” regarding the flagships program and discussions are ongoing with the European Parliament and others. “The process is still open and we’ll take on board more view points, but the danger we face is that they become just a vehicle for people to get their hobby-horses into a program,” said Taylor, who suggested that the EU may start with around 10 flagships and add more later. “For every additional flagship you have to cut down from other programming,” he said. “There is always going to be a trade-off.” “At the end of the day,” said Taylor, “we’ll have a finite number of flags of various scale of ambition, and if it goes well, we’ll probably have some more as the seven years go on.” Eva Donelli contributed reporting. Visit us at the 2013 European Development Days and watch out for more Devex coverage of news and views from Europe’s leading global development eventof the year.