Deadline: 3-Apr-23
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior with the support of the French Embassy are launching the 2023 annual call for projects in support of decentralized cooperation for French local authorities and local authorities Tunisian territories.
The process of implementing Tunisian decentralization aims at the gradual concretization of the principles contained in the constitution, in particular with regard to:
- The participation and recognition of local authorities as part of public power;
- Decentralization as a mode of governance of local public affairs;
- The transfer of powers to local authorities, whose role is destined to grow in the management of local affairs (improvement of services provided to citizens, in particular basic local services which directly affect the daily lives of citizens and mark the quality of life and attractiveness of cities, and effectiveness of public policies);
- The strengthening and redeployment of human resources made available to local authorities;
- The adequacy between resources and prerogatives of local communities and the revision of local finances;
- The transfer of powers between categories of local authorities;
- The definition of new levels of communities (in particular metropolises and regions).
Themes
- This system is dedicated to strengthening the project management capacities of Tunisian local authorities or their groups in compliance with the powers and competences recognized by law.
- Four themes are proposed, defined in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior:
- Planning of the territory, the Commune and public spaces : within the framework of the communalization of the Tunisian national territory, new communes have been created and some enlarged. The management of rural spaces, the link between rural territories and urban territories and local development, are new areas for the municipalities concerned where the need for expertise for the management of spaces is important (social problems, traffic and mobility). Within the cities themselves, the municipalities are responsible for bringing to life, even rethinking or creating public spaces, the crucible of “living together”.
- Environment, climate, energy efficiency and coastal management : this second theme is broad, ranging from waste collection and sanitation (essential service) to the protection of the environment and biodiversity.
- Heritage and culture : many Tunisian municipalities and territories have a rich heritage and cultural heritage that municipalities must preserve and enhance, for the quality of life of citizens and for tourist and economic attractiveness.
- Management of the health crisis : hygiene, health, organization of work, teleworking, communication with the populations
- Independently of these themes, which often intersect, the positive environmental impact of the proposed projects will be a strong selection criterion.
Priority Partnerships
- Preference will be given to projects that:
- Encourage partnerships allowing projects to play a unifying role in the mobilization of local communities and to provide coherence on the scale of a larger territory. In this perspective, the regional decentralized cooperation platforms will be able to fulfill a coordinating role;
- Are supported by several French and/or Tunisian local authorities, aiming to pool their means of intervention and give more coherence and efficiency to their actions;
- Relate to the training of elected officials and territorial agents and advocate gender parity, with particular attention to the involvement of elected women, who face particular challenges in their participation in local governance;
- Promote the development of intermunicipal cooperation, particularly in rural areas.
- In addition, good practices aimed at consolidating decentralized cooperation partnerships over time will be favoured, in particular those that provide for:
- The establishment of a steering committee ensuring the regular administrative, political and technical monitoring of the partnership;
- The conditions for the sustainability of the project and its results;
- Information and communication actions on the actions carried out in the direction of the media, through the production and distribution of joint brochures, the creation of Internet and Facebook pages, etc. in particular, in conjunction with the DAECT, the French Embassy, the Tunisian Ministry of Interior.
Duration: The duration of the project will be 12 months , from the acceptance of the latter by the selection committee and the requirements of its action program.
Eligibility Criteria
- The call for projects is aimed at French and Tunisian local authorities and their groups in order to carry out projects, which may be co-financed if they are selected, within the framework of a decentralized cooperation partnership.
- A project is only eligible if it is presented jointly by at least one French local authority and one Tunisian local authority (governorate and municipality).
- The project must directly involve the local authorities in their skills or their capacities to mobilize the actors of their territories by ensuring the strategic and financial management of the project. Public, private or associative bodies will not be eligible, even if their purpose is to carry out local development actions. They can however, at the request of the partner local authorities and within a clearly defined framework, be operators or prime contractors for all or part of the project.
For more information, visit Call for Projects.