Apply Now for City-to-City Exchanges EUI: Capacity Building

Deadline: 17-Nov-23

The Call for Applications for city-to-city exchanges is now open, providing support to urban authorities in addressing implementation challenges related to sustainable urban development.

A city-to-city exchange is required to focus on a specific policy challenge related to the design and implementation of Sustainable Urban Development within Cohesion Policy.

The objective of a city-to-city exchange is to improve the capacity of the applicant to tackle the identified challenge through a process of peer learning and sharing of expertise. Peers are expected to share practical knowledge and know-how tailored to the identified challenge and the urban context of the applicant.

City-to-city exchanges offer short-term opportunities for peer learning. They can be as simple as one visit between two cities. When duly justified, an applicant may define up to three visits per application to be completed within five months, if a series of events is most suited to tackling the identified challenge.

Objectives

• A city-to-city exchange brings together an urban authority facing a specific implementation challenge related to SUD (‘the applicant’) and another urban authority from a different EU Member State that has expertise which could help tackle this challenge (‘the peer’) for a short-term, quickly implemented visit.
• A city-to-city exchange is a bottom-up, on-demand activity. The content, timing, and format of the exchange are defined by the applicant according to their specific needs related to the design and implementation of SUD strategies. Applications are submitted and approved for implementation on a rolling basis.
• The objective of a city-to-city exchange is to improve the capacity of the applicant to tackle the identified SUD challenge through a process of peer learning and sharing of expertise.
• To achieve the capacity building objective of an exchange, peers are expected to share practical knowledge and know-how which is tailored to the identified challenge and the urban context of the applicant. This may include:
  • Knowledge of suitable actions and approaches
  • Technical skills and working methods
  • More and less successful experiences of how the issue has been tackled in the peer city
  • Recommendations on possible actions to be taken by the applicant city

Thematic Scope

• A city-to-city exchange is required to focus on a specific policy challenge related to the implementation of Sustainable Urban Development within Cohesion Policy.
• Applicants are required to define in the application form a specific policy challenge that consists of thematic and operational issues. The challenge should be as focused as possible to allow for an effective learning process between the applicant and the peers.
• Exchanges may cover the range of challenges related to designing and implementing integrated, placebased strategies within Cohesion Policy. While the specific policy instrument to be influenced must be named in the application form, the challenge may refer to the design and implementation of specific types of projects to be funded through the policy instrument.
• The below tables offer a non-exhaustive list5of potential thematic and operational challenges that may be addressed, which cover the full range of policy objectives supported through Cohesion Policy.

Duration and Timeline

• City-to-city exchanges offer short-term opportunities for peer learning. City-to-city exchanges can be as simple as one visit between two cities. However, reciprocal visits are also possible. When duly justified, an applicant may define up to three visits per application if a series of events is most suited to tackling the identified challenge.
• A visit may last between two to five days.

Eligibility Criteria

• Only urban authorities from EU Member States are eligible to apply. There is no minimum population requirement for the city, town, functional urban area or suburb. Relevant stakeholders may also participate in the exchange alongside the urban authority if justified in the application.
• Applicants are urban authorities. There is no minimum population requirement for the city, town, or suburb. Urban authorities may be:
• A Local Administrative Unit defined according to the degree of urbanisation as city, town or suburb (corresponding to DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2 of Eurostat).
• An association or grouping of urban authorities with legal status of organised agglomeration composed by Local Administrative Units, where the majority (at least 51%) of inhabitants lives in
• Local Administrative Units defined according to the degree of urbanisation (DEGURBA) of Eurostat as cities, towns or suburbs (corresponding to DEGURBA code 1 or DEGURBA code 2).
• While only urban authorities may apply and be reimbursed directly by EUI, relevant stakeholders may also participate in the exchange alongside the applicant or peer urban authority if justified in the application. These stakeholders may be public bodies, bodies governed by public law or private bodies (e.g., rural authorities, regional development agencies, innovation agencies, waste management companies, housing associations, functional urban area associations, universities, Community Led Local Development Local Action Groups etc.).
• All applicants are required to demonstrate their interest in integrated, place-based SUD approaches or their involvement in the implementation of SUD strategies.
• Special attention will be given to applications focused on functional urban areas and those tackling urban-rural linkages.
• Participants
  • Cities participating in a city-to-city exchange belong to one of two categories:
    • the applicant (primary beneficiary),
    • ithe peers (secondary beneficiaries).
  • In principle, city-to-city exchanges are bilateral in nature, bringing together one applicant city and one peer city. However, a second peer city may be included when the need is duly justified in the application form.
  • While both applicant and peers may improve their capacities thanks to the peer learning process, the applicant remains the primary beneficiary. The content and objectives of the exchange are defined by the applicant, not the peers. However, the peers are nevertheless secondary beneficiaries who receive financial support and who may also benefit from increased capacities on the issue addressed by the exchange.
• Priority Groups
  • Applications are invited from any eligible authorities on a rolling basis. However, applications from specific categories of urban authorities will be evaluated with priority:
    • urban authorities in less developed regions (first priority) and transition regions (second priority)
    • urban authorities with less than 500,000 inhabitants
    • urban authorities that have participated in an EUI peer review
    • urban authorities that have not yet benefited from an approved city-to-city exchange
    • urban authorities resubmitting a previously rejected city-to-city exchange application

For more information, visit City-to-City Exchanges EUI.