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PPMI study to support administrative capacity building in management of ERDF and Cohesion Fund

22 Feb 2020

News
PPMI study to support administrative capacity building in management of ERDF and Cohesion Fund

Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission is actively investing into capacity building tools targeted at experts and practitioners of the Member States, since the effective management and implementation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund, along with financial resources, require strong administrative capacity. Along with other tools, DG REGIO funds and supports two peer-learning schemes, the TAIEX-REGIO PEER 2 PEER and the Communities of Practitioners.

REGIO P2P, launched in 2015, is a scheme facilitating exchanges between national and regional bodies managing and administering the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund. It supports study visits, expert missions and workshops. REGIO CoPs were set up in 2016 with the aim of developing longer-term cooperation among cohesion policy practitioners with a stronger focus on co-creating solutions to common issues/problems. The communities are built by the participants themselves who also propose the topics, issues and common challenges to be discussed.

In order to assess the functioning of these two peer-learning schemes and the results produced since their launch, DG REGIO contracted a study ’Study on peer learning tools for the administrative capacity building of Member State bodies involved in the management of funds from ERDF and the Cohesion Fund’, which will be implemented by PPMI. This project was kick-started in February 2020. The objective of the study is to (1) provide a comprehensive overview of the functioning and results of the peer learning schemes developed by DG REGIO (REGIO P2P and CoPs) (2) and assess the scope to develop the schemes further into a more comprehensive peer learning scheme to build up administrative capacity in the EU’s Member States. The study will focus especially on the role played by peer learning in DG REGIO’s work to support administrative capacity building, and the actual and potential link to other tools used by DG REGIO.

This study further expands the portfolio of PPMI in the field of public administration and governance. Among other projects in this area, PPMI:

  • completed a study ’Support for developing country knowledge on public administration (EUPACK2019)’ for DG REFORM, which further developed a consistent country and thematic overview on the characteristics and performance of public administrations in EU Member States, and explored the content, outcomes and impact of public administration reforms in this area;
  • is finalising a study ’Progress Assessment of ESF Support to Public Administration’ (’PAPA’) for DG EMPL, which presented specific cases of ESF-funded public administration reform and capacity building initiatives and showed the role of ESF financial support to public administration for accountability purposes.