Working Better Together in a Team Europe Approach

The opportunity to expand joint programming to fragile situations and conflict-affected countries was highlighted in the 2016 Council conclusions on ‘Stepping up Joint Programming’⁵⁴. In 2018, the Council conclusions further outlined the EU’s integrated approach to conflict and crises⁵⁵, noting that the starting point for the integrated approach must be an early, coordinated and shared conflict analysis. Accordingly, a joint conflict analysis must always be carried out – and updated – for countries affected by or at risk of conflict or instability and where the EU has a significant engagement. The joint conflict analysis will inform other EU strategic engagement processes, such as regional and national programming and joint programming. It provides a strategic basis for conflict-sensitive programming of actors following a Team Europe approach. The EU definition of conflict sensitivity is given in the 2020 EU Guidance Note on Conflict Analysis⁵⁶ and the methodology is set out in the Commission Guidance Notes on Conflict Sensitivity⁵⁷.

The European Consensus on Development also indicates that the EU and its Member States will have to integrate conflict sensitivity in all their work, to maximise the positive impact on peace. Based on a shared analysis of the context, the Integrated Approach requires EU institutions to further strengthen cooperation with Member States and the way the EU brings together institutions, expertise, capacities and instruments, in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, crisis response and stabilisation, to contribute to sustainable peace.

A study on applying joint programming in these situations was commissioned by the EU in 2018⁵⁸. The study confirmed that joint programming must be adapted to each country context to be responsive and flexible, taking into account the realities and needs on the ground and mainstreaming conflict sensitivity into localised analyses and across the programming cycle⁵⁹.

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In 2018 European partners in Mali launched the second joint programming exercise with the participation of nine Member States and Switzerland. The process benefited from a joint mission from European partners’ capitals that helped review the past joint programming process and set the frame for the intensive work at country level. Beyond that, this joint mission provided a platform for discussion among global, regional, and country-level actors about regional dynamics and Mali’s role therein. Moreover, European peace actors (ESDP mission, the French Barkhane operation) were brought together with humanitarian actors to discuss how to more effectively communicate and exchange information with each other when planning their respective interventions.

54 Council conclusions 8554/16
55 Council conclusions 5266/18 Council conclusions 5413/18
56 https://capacity4dev.europa.eu/groups/public-fragility/info/guidance-note-use-conflict-analysis-support-eu-external-action_en
57 https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/148be3a6-2fb9-11ec-bd8e-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
58 Joint Programming in Conflict-Affected and Fragile States, Sibylle Koenig and Emery Brusset. 2018. Accessible at: https://capacity4dev.europa.eu/library/report-joint-programming-conflict-affected-and-fragile-states_en
59 This section is also relevant for TEIs, especially because there are few TEI-specific lessons learnt collected, to date, on Team Europe Approach in fragile and conflict-affecting settings.