The European Union’s push to get its development banks, member states, and staff delegations to collaborate more effectively is proving cumbersome and expensive, as well as failing to listen to what low-income countries actually want, according to an internal report seen by Devex.
Prepared by consultants for the European Commission’s development department and soon to be discussed by EU state representatives in Brussels, the study assesses the impediments and incentives to joining so-called Team Europe initiatives, or TEIs. First trialed by the commission in 2020, these joint plans are an attempt to get EU development groups working together on issues such as decent work, digital transformation, or democracy, at national, regional, or global levels.
Despite “process tensions” and “growing pains,” the authors wrote that the “overwhelming sense is one of positivity” toward TEIs emerging from their surveys and interviews, due partly to greater flexibility than previous attempts at joint programming, as well as the chance to learn from other players.