Rethinking Decentralised Cooperation in a Context of Uncertain and Multiple Transitions

© Written by: Octavi de la Varga Mas, International Strategic Projects Advisor of Diputació Barcelona

The study, available now in Spanish (here) and shortly also in English and French, comes as a result of the VIII Conference of the Observatory, held in Barcelona in July 2022. Phare-Territorios Globales with DIBA’s support and Platforma’s collaboration gathers recommendations on how to enhance decentralised cooperation as to move forward transformative policy mainstreaming the agenda on human rights and global justice. Far from top-bottom approaches, decentralised cooperation within EU-ALC shall be moving towards horizontal projects, leaving no one behind. Some of the challenges addressed in the study are as follows:

A fair and transformative political agenda; An agenda for rights and a feminist perspective; Climate justice; Ethical digital transition; A different economy for different development; Decentralisation and local autonomy; Incorporate a broader framework of coherence; Bridge the gap between discourse and practice: assessment of types of decentralised cooperation; Support horizontal cooperation; Commitment to Education for Global Justice (EGJ); Strengthen the legal, financial and technical framework for decentralised cooperation; Call for EU support for EU-LA Decentralised Cooperation; Support a multi-stakeholder vision for inclusive decentralised cooperation; Enhanced partnerships with the knowledge sector; Establish ethical limits to private sector partnership.

The Observatory for Decentralised Cooperation, integrated by DIBA (Barcelona Provincial Council) and the municipality of Montevideo, was created in March 2005 in response to the need to collect, systematize, investigate, propose, and announce conceptions and practices of public decentralised cooperation between the European Union and Latin America. This need, supported in the Conference on the Local Partnership between the European Union and Latin America (Valparaíso, March 2004), led the European Commission conceive, within the framework of the URB–AL program, the creation of an Observatory for Decentralised Cooperation between both regions. The Observatory has now become an outstanding hub in the analysis of the decentralised cooperation and the international action of local governments, contributing to develop a framework of interpretation, identify trends about those phenomena and valorise it.

© Written by: Octavi de la Varga Mas, International Strategic Projects Advisor of Diputació Barcelona

You can find the study “Rethinking Decentralised Cooperation in a context of uncertainties and multiple transitions” by clicking here. For the Spanish version of the report click here.