Technical Cooperation Reform is a Culture Change

Interview to Koos Richelle

The European Commission is taking a lead role in championing a results-driven reform of technical cooperation. In a video interview to mark the launch of the new Capacity4dev.eu platform, Koos Richelle, Director General of the Commission's development arm, EuropeAid, explains the modalities of that reform.

To escape poverty, developing countries need to have greater ownership, which will require a culture change from the European Commission and its partners, explained Mr Richelle.

"In countries that have succeeded to escape from poverty there was ownership," said Mr Richelle. "They took the lead, they formulated their own policies and they took decisions on what kind of support they needed. And I think, in providing technical assistance, we absolutely need to make sure that ownership gets a real chance."

"The biggest challenge is that it is provoking a cultural change," said Mr Richelle. "And nothing is so difficult to realise as a change in culture."

To support this change, the new Capacity4dev.eu platform has been established to facilitate dialogue and communication across the commission and its partners. Mr Richelle encourages commission staff and interested parties to utilise this new resource, which will underpin the reform process and enable greater sharing of experiences and knowledge.

Mr Richelle argues that change will have to come from both recipient and donor countries. Recipients need to work to become drivers of technical assistance, taking ownership of development. While donors need to learn to listen to recipients' needs and spend more time planning effective cooperation. Mr Richelle gives the example of Somalia, an African country and failed state, but where European Commission staff's flexible and innovative approach to capacity development bore results even in this most difficult of environments.

As well as meeting obligations to aid recipients, the European Commission is also mindful of its obligations to European tax payers.

"We spend a lot of money on technical assistance - worldwide about 20 billion Euros per year," said Mr Richelle. "The European Union takes a large share of this and you must make sure to the tax payers, that the money is well spent."