4.4 Coordination of Team Europe Initiatives and division of labour
General principles for TEI management:
- the set-up should be as simple as possible and retain flexibility, in particular so that other Member States, financial institutions and/or multilateral banks can join the TEI over time;
- as a general rule, TEI implementation at country level should build on the institutionally accepted coordination role of EU delegations, which will make sure to maintain a fluent ongoing dialogue with other TEI participants;
- regional and global TEIs are mostly coordinated through the respective EU and Member States’ headquarters;
- actors involved in regional TEIs should also consider relevant country TEIs, so as to ensure complementarity, cross-regional coordination and maximum impact.
At HQ Level: the Working Group on TEI Monitoring and Evaluation has been set up. It is an inclusive, technical forum to discuss options for monitoring and reporting TEI results as well as quality standards. It consists of representatives of EU actors following a Team Europe approach: the EU, Member States with their implementing agencies and EU DFIs, the EIB and the EBRD. Similarly, the Working Group on TEI Financial Tracking has been set up. It is an inclusive technical forum to discuss the financial tracking of TEIs. A particular focus of the Group has been to develop the Guidance on Financial Tracking of TEIs82. TEIs can also be discussed at meetings of Development Director-Generals, as well as at technical-level meetings (e.g., Team Europe focal points network).
Team Europe Democracy (TED) is a global TEI launched by Commissioner Urpilainen with the objective of creating a coordinated strategic EU response in support of democracy worldwide to the rising challenges that democratic principles and universal values are facing globally. 14 Member States are currently participating in TED, working together around three interlinked pillars:
- a research pillar with relevant data/analysis that should inform the work, reflection and discussion of a TED network and a steering committee, which has been set up by the Commission and Member States and meets regularly, both virtually and physically;
- a TED network, which comprises the Commission, Member States and relevant civil society organisations and think tanks, and which will harness the experience and expertise of Democracy Support practitioners in order to help them learn from each other and to inform interventions and coordinated actions;
- pilot interventions/deployment of experts to support the work of Member States’ embassies/ implementing agencies and EU delegations to coordinate and develop their actions.
Regional Level: at regional level, existing HQ/capitals expert(s) or ad hoc working groups could form the basis for the TEI management group, but it should be recognised that the demands of steering and managing regional/continental TEIs require an agreement on burden-sharing by the participants in the TEI, and that the Commission services/the EEAS must retain a strong coordination role and overall steering of issues. The management mechanisms of the EU’s regional programmes, which are usually co-financed and/or implemented by Member State's implementing agencies, could serve as a basis/starting point for the TEI management structure, but it is necessary to ensure that any TEI-related meetings or activities organised by these structures are open to those TEI participants that are not directly involved in the financing or implementation of the EU regional programme.
It is often particularly important for the TEIs at that level and which are managed by HQs situated in different countries, to try to work as much as possible with existing EU-Member State coordination structures, which are already effective and operational.
The regional TEI entitled Investing in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) supports early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa. Given IYBA’s unique framework, it was evident during the initial TEI design- stage that collaboration with DFIs would be key. The opportunity for the EIB, the EBRD and EDFI members to be part of the TEI governance structure gave DFIs an active role in the set up of the TEI. Attention was given to details such as the adoption of financial language and clear definitions of financial instruments. Practical expectations from DFIs were highlighted and DFIs provided feedback and input to ensure that all actors were on the same page.
With the regional TEI running since 2022, several programmes are under implementation and at design stage. In IYBA SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development), DFIs are not just financial actors but also knowledge partners who contribute to improving the financial/investment ecosystems. Another programme, IYBA WE4A (Women Entrepreneurship for Africa), enables women entrepreneurs to access credit lines. Since January 2025, IYBA MCP (Market Creation Platform) where a DFI is leading the set up of a platform that will enable public actors, DFIs and private sector to mobilize capital for early stage business. And IYBA Invest is a blended finance programme with a lead DFI which will consolidate locally domiciled partner Funds by providing first-loss risk capital to attract investors and channel investments into those funds to finance early-stage MSMEs. In addition, six EFSD+ guarantees linked to IYBA have been completed with several DFIs where at least 51% of the investments are targeting early-stage businesses.
Key lessons from TEI IYBA’s engagement with DFIs include:
- The importance of having a TEI chair who understands DFI interests and incentives, language, and internal challenges and opportunities;
- DFI engagement as a Chair (EIB for the period 2024-2025 and EBRD for 2026-2027) has proven useful to engage other DFIs.
- IYBA MCP and IYBA Invest programmes have been designed with the objective of attracting private sector capital (foundations, investment and impact funds, capital networks, pension funds).
- Combination of Intermediated Lending EFSD+ guarantees and Impact Funds EFSD+ guarantees allow reaching a wider spectrum of early-stage businesses.
- The need to maintain a clear approach to collaboration, steering clear of generalities while being concrete on terms of participation and aligned with the capacities and opportunities of DFIs to engage;
Adopting a consultative stance, seeking DFI input rather than dictating terms.
Technical facilities available in DG INTPA or in Member States can support the TEI coordinator in their function – but it cannot (and should not) replace them.
The infographic below shows the example of the management structure established in February 2023 for the regional LAC TEI ‘Partnership on Justice and Security’. The respective roles and mandates of each committee and the working groups are described in detail in Annex 3.2. However, it should be noted that this structure was not yet fully operational at the time of finalising the present guidance.
Partner country level: it is proposed that each TEI should have a steering group and a management group. The steering group should provide the long-term vision as well as the political narrative and communication about the TEI. It should also ensure dialogue with partner countries/regions, including relevant stakeholders of these countries/regions,, and the links with broad EU strategic objectives and ambitions (including Global Gateway), with the EU playing a particular coordinator role here. The management group is responsible for the overall coordination, implementation and monitoring of the process. Existing EU coordination structures (e.g. regular HoCs and HoMs meetings) should be used as much as possible. In particular, when there is a joint programming process already in place at country and regional levels, which may include like-minded development partners, if relevant, agreed by EU Heads of Mission and HQ and in accordance with general instructions, the consultations with the EU cluster should build on this EU(+) configuration by referring any such decision to the HoMs, in consultation with HQ. At the management level, it will also be important to involve political and trade advisors as much as possible in the discussions (‘Troika’).
Summing up:
- Heads of Delegation (together with Member States’ 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 government. They also ensure that the processes are aligned with the Global Gateway strategy.
- Heads of Cooperation, Heads of Development Cooperation and/or political as well as trade counsellors (as a troika) can have a facilitating and advisory role alongside the lead TEI coordinator, and can provide support and leadership in the process, communication and consensus-building.
In several partner countries, Team Europe approach groups also decided to create a technical-level ‘TEI focal points’ working group, so that there could be more sector-level discussions and coordination between Team Europe approach programme managers in charge of the TEI-contributing programmes. If a joint programming process exists, it is advisable that joint programming and TEI management structures are combined and aligned at partner country level, so as not to add further layers of coordination. The diagram below captures this combined structure, which is not prescriptive. The examples below from Benin and South Africa show other possible structures that build on pre-existing working groups.
In Benin, different coordination mechanisms exist between EU Member States and the EU delegation in Cotonou (with regard to the TEI ‘Croissance durable et emploi des jeunes’): between the EU Heads of Mission, the EU Heads of Cooperation and in technical working groups that include non-EU development partners on agriculture, TVET, MSME development, etc. This means that discussions and initiatives can be initiated and followed up at different levels. The different TEIs for Benin have been discussed at all these different levels.
In South Africa, the TEIs focus on two key areas: the green recovery and jobs for the future. The Green Recovery TEI promotes a just and sustainable transformation and is supported by a significant number of actors following a Team Europe approach (the EU, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Finland and the EIB), many of which do not have dedicated development cooperation staff in the country. The TEIs have therefore had to use existing coordination networks (especially the EU climate council, which has become the forum of choice for the Green Recovery TEI). However, the Jobs for the Future TEI has, given the absence of designated Member State focal points specifically for job- and employment-related issues, been included as a topic on the regular agenda of cooperation counsellors’ meetings. Use of existing platforms limits the challenge of resource and staffing constraints in a context in which development cooperation is not the primary focus of delegations.
In addition, it is expected that the TEI will need a support function (in technical and/or logistical terms) to facilitate the work of the management group in the form of a ‘secretariat’. Following the agreement of all participants in the TEI, they can either fund or take on the TEI support role. If this role is taken on by a Member State, it should be funded by the Member State and the Commission has no obligation to co-fund this role. The TEI support role does not replace the collective coordination responsibility.
At each of these levels, it will be important to be as inclusive as possible when it comes to the participation and consultation of other stakeholders, by drawing on existing structures and processes. This can include the EU Civil Society Roadmap, the GAP III and CLIP consultation activities, the Human Rights and Democracy Strategy and/or the implementation of the EU Youth Action Plan. Consideration should also be given, when possible, to the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and the Guidance Note on Disability Inclusion in EU external action. Each TEI management level (entire group of participants) is therefore responsible for its own consultation processes, but it is advisable to regularly consult CSO and gender units/ departments (in the case of global and regional TEIs) or designated focal points (country-level TEIs) in order to explore opportunities for merging consultations processes and thus avoiding consultation fatigue.
⇒ Indicative terms of reference for the steering, management and support structures can be found in Annex 4.3 of the present guidelines.
Day-to-day management should in practice be circular. The more regular conversation about the TEIs (between TEI participants at partner country level) may take place between TEI programme managers at a more technical/sector level. However, any issues affecting TEI implementation which are cross-sector and go beyond a single TEI should be taken up to the HoCs level, within their monthly meetings and in the context of their joint programming discussions (where a joint programming process is in place). Where appropriate, political and trade advisors should be invited to participate if they are not already part of a tripartite management (‘Troika’) arrangement. If a TEI (or joint programming) issue goes beyond the policy level and requires a political stance or decision, HoCs can ask HoMs to include an agenda point about it within their HoMs meetings. The HoMs are also responsible for general political steering for joint programming (including TEIs) and taking any agreed joint political messaging around JP and TEIs into their political dialogue with the government. Top-down steering and feedback loops should be ensured.
In Rwanda, the TEI participants group has opted for a TEI focal points group (while leaving the meeting frequency more flexible: ‘TEI focal points would meet at the request of TEI leads’).There would therefore be designated one ‘TEI lead’ for each TEI objective.
In Zimbabwe, the TEI management structure recommended in this guidance (see the infographic above) was adopted and put into practice in 2022-2023. The group of TEI participants opted to have an additional ‘TEI focal points group’, which is composed of EU and Member State managers of some of the major programmes contributing to the TEIs and which aims to meet on a monthly basis. At the management and steering level, the pre-existing joint HoCs and HoMs meetings were used to introduce TEI agenda points, where needed. It was decided to try, where possible, to schedule the TEI focal point meetings 1 week ahead of the HoCs meetings so that important conclusions and messages could, where needed, be brought to the attention of the HoCs group in a timely manner. The steering group’s terms of reference from this guidance were amended and tailored to the group’s ambitions – by introducing a quarterly structured dialogue between the TEI steering group and the government around the TEIs.
⇒ See Annex 3.2 for the detailed tasks proposed for each of these groups.
82 See Annex 3.4.