Working Better Together in a Team Europe Approach

Joint implementation is a method for collaboratively doing together to support more coherent implementation in a specific area. Joint implementation, whether financial or non-financial, translates shared objectives into collaborative action by establishing practical arrangements at implementation level. The goal is to maximise the impact of EU and Member States collective expertise and resources. Joint implementation should result in more coherent, effective, efficient and coordinated support at country and regional level, thus contributing to greater external action and development impact. More specifically:

• Joint implementation can take various forms, financial and non-financial, and has evolved towards becoming a collection of tools rather than a specific process. Whether financial or non-financial it translates shared objectives into collaborative action by establishing arrangements for working together. The purpose is to maximise the impact of the EU and Member States collective expertise and resources.
• Key characteristics of joint implementation include that its specific to the country context; it makes best use of the combined toolbox of the EU, its Member States and their comparative advantages; it is based on the sharing and applying of best practices, experiences and networks at country/regional level; and it provides examples and content for joint communication and messaging on what can be delivered in a Team Europe approach.
• Involvement of actors and partners in Team Europe approach typically starts at the technical and operational level. Programme managers tend to be in the lead. It is important to link up this level with the mechanisms in place under the Joint programming and Team Europe Initiatives, especially to support joint policy and political- level dialogue. Joint implementation can include public and non-public actors and partners in a Team Europe approach that share European objectives and values.
• Joint implementation involves a wide range of financial and non-financial tools for working together. Joint implementation should cover all parts of the intervention cycle as well as activities around it, including coordination mechanisms and collaborative arrangements. Interventions involving non-financial means could include joint sectoral/thematic analysis such as joint gender analysis; joint project identification; joint follow-up and evaluation of interventions; joint visibility strategies. Actions involving financial means include delegated cooperation, joint and parallel co-financing and even contributions in kind. Examples include multi-donor actions, blending with European financial institutions or financial guarantees, Twinning/TAIEX modalities.

⇒ For further reading please see section 3 and annex 2 of the full guidance.