Enhancing implementation of the SDGs and effectiveness of EU aid

In working with a partner country, the EU develops interventions via Joint Programming (JP), a flexible and country-tailored process that encourages local ownership by aligning cooperation resources with the development plans of the partner country. The 2017 Consensus gave a prominent role to JP as a key approach for the EU and Member States to work better together to implement the 2030 Agenda. As such, the SDGs must be better mainstreamed across all the different phases of JP, namely, joint analysis, monitoring and results frameworks, as well as implementation.

With 12 experts on board, NIRAS worked on a Framework Contract assignment under Lot 3 (Human Rights, Democracy and Peace), which ran from January 2019 to October 2020. The overall objective of the contract was to better support implementation of the SDGs in EU partner countries by improving the effectiveness of and the coordination and engagement in development cooperation and external action. Providing a technical assistance facility on JP, NIRAS experts worked on two levels: (i) in country, improving the capacity and operational knowledge of EU Delegations and Member State embassies on JP and the SDGs through a demand-driven approach and improving joint European policy dialogue on the SDGs with partner countries; and (ii) at headquarter level, improving capacities and documenting knowledge on JP and the SDGs and communicating how the JP contributes to the SDGs globally.

The project led to a number of valuable deliverables, including:

• An increased number of EU countries engaged stronger in various partner countries with strengthened commitments on SDG implementation
• Enhanced visibility through creation of visual identities
• Visualisation of key data to document the positive impact of JP
• A number of studies were produced and big conferences on JP and the SDGs were facilitated, which brought various practitioners together