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Working Better Together in a Team Europe Approach

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public
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Last Updated: 05 December 2025
A tool to help EU Delegations work better together with Member States as Team Europe and with like-minded partners and country stakeholders, through Team Europe Initiatives, joint programming and joint implementation.

Table of contents

2.4 Actors involved in the process and suggested division of labour

Actors involved in joint programming processes

Figure 8: Actors involved in joint programming processes

 

  • Heads of Delegation, together with Member State Heads of Mission, steer the process. They play a key role in representing EU interests, values and principles, reconciling them with the partner country context and conducting dialogue with officials from the partner country’s government. Heads of Delegation shall consult with the corresponding services (Commission/EEAS) throughout the process.
  • While the EUD will continue to perform its role as overall coordinator of the process, the JP participants’ group may decide that the task of leading coordination should be rotated.
  • The coordination role for TEIs and/or JP should be a decision by all involved actors, taking into account their respective structures and capacities. For example, the decision can be taken by a broad group consisting of Heads of Cooperation/Development, political sections and trade counsellors (a ‘Troika’) while some of the involved actors with more limited capacities only assign one person for such tasks. This Troika can play a facilitating and advisory role next to the lead TEI/JP coordinator and provide support and leadership in the process, communication, and consensus-building.
  • The lead coordinator, with the Troika where relevant, can draw on of individual sector leads or programme managers for technical support when discussing sector-specific objectives, or formulating and monitoring the joint results frameworks.
  • The Troika may also decide to set up (or preferably use existing) thematic working groups for joint programming objectives, TEIs and joint implementation goals.
  • Non-resident EU Member States should be invited to become joint programming participants if they have programmes or other types of external relations with the partner country – and can take part in meetings remotely.
  • All actors following a Team Europe approach and like-minded development partners, if relevant, agreed by EU Heads of Mission and HQ and in accordance with general instructions, who have established a formal relationship with the partner country (even if they are non-resident) can ask to become ‘joint programming participants’.
  • EU and Member States’ implementing organisations, i.e. those receiving funding from the EU and Member States for implementing specific programmes only (for example European CSOs), can make a useful contribution on technical, sector-specific issues.
  • EU and Member States headquarters: They are part of the joint programming approval process and will ensure coherence with other EU and national strategies.