1.2.2. Stepping up joint programming
In May 2016, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on stepping up joint programming[8] as part of an ongoing effort to increase the impact of the EU’s development and neighbourhood policies. These Council conclusions point out that ‘Joint Programming should be promoted and strengthened, while being kept voluntary, flexible, inclusive, and tailored to the country context, and allow for the replacement of EU and Member States Programming documents with EU Joint Programming documents’. The Council recognised ‘the added value that Joint Programming can have in terms of avoiding duplication, reducing transaction costs (including for partner countries), and further strengthening EU coordination and EU visibility’. In ‘pursuing Joint Programming the EU and its Member States collectively contribute to implementing the policy commitments made at global and EU level[9] and recommend that joint programming expands its geographic scope to conflict- affected and fragile contexts, as well as middle-income countries. This trend has further evolved since 2019 through a Recommendation of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) on the Humanitarian- Development-Peace (HDP) nexus. This recommendation to its members (including the EU) set out 11 principles, one of which is to strengthen cooperation on the basis of joint analysis of risks and vulnerabilities and joint programming.
8 Council conclusions 8554/16 Council conclusions 8554/16
9 The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan, December 2011, the new European Consensus on Development, the Agenda for Change, and the Joint Communication on the Review of the European Neighbourhood Policy.
10 In this context, the Council recalls its conclusions on the EU's comprehensive approach (9644/14), noting that the starting point of the comprehensive approach must be early, coordinated, and shared analysis. Available at https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9644-2014-INIT/en/pdf