NDICI - Global Europe 2021-2027 Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument

Objectives

The specific objectives of the instrument are:

• to support and promote dialogue and cooperation with regions and third countries in the Neighborhood, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and the Caribbean;
• develop special strengthened partnerships and enhanced political cooperation with European Neighborhood Policy countries, based on cooperation, peace and stability and a shared commitment to the universal values of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, with the aim of achieving deep-rooted and sustainable democracy and progressive socio-economic integration as well as people-to-people contacts;
• globally:
  (i) protecting, promoting and advancing democracy, the rule of law, including accountability mechanisms, and human rights, including gender equality and the protection of human rights defenders, including in the most difficult circumstances and emergency situations;
  (ii) supporting civil society organizations;
  (iii) promoting stability and peace and preventing conflict, so as to contribute to the protection of civilians;
  (iv) addressing other global challenges such as climate change, the protection of biodiversity and the environment, and migration and mobility;
• (d) responding rapidly to:
  (i) situations of crisis, instability, and conflict, including those that may arise from migration flows and forced displacement, and hybrid threats;
  (ii) challenges to resilience, including natural and man-made disasters, and the need to link humanitarian aid to development action;
  (iii) needs and priorities of the Union's foreign policy.

Types of Action

Union funding under the instrument is executed through:

• geographic programs covering national and multinational cooperation activities in the following areas: neighborhood; sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and the Americas and the Caribbean
• thematic programs covering actions related to the pursuit of the MDGs globally, in the following areas: human rights and democracy; civil society organizations; peace, stability and conflict prevention; and global challenges.
• Rapid response actions that enable early action to: contribute to peace, stability and conflict prevention in emergency, emerging crisis, crisis and post-crisis situations (including those that may result from migration flows and forced displacement); help strengthen the resilience of states, societies, communities and individuals and link humanitarian aid with development action and, where appropriate, peace building; and address the Union's foreign policy needs and priorities. 

Added to these is a reserve of unallocated funds so that any of NDICI's pillars can be supplemented to address unforeseen circumstances, new needs, emerging challenges, and support new priorities.

Actions under the instrument are implemented mainly through geographic programs. Otherwise:

• Actions implemented through thematic programs are complementary to actions funded under geographic programs and support global and transregional initiatives;
• Rapid response actions are complementary to geographic and thematic programs and are designed and implemented in a way that allows for their continuity under geographic or thematic programs, where appropriate.

Based on Delegated Regulation 2021/1530, the specific objectives and priority areas of cooperation by subregion are as follows:

For the Southern Neighborhood:

• Supporting human development, good governance, rule of law, and gender equality.
• Strengthen resilience, create prosperity and benefit from digital transformation
• Supporting the green transition, strengthening resilience to climate change and energy transition and security, and protecting the environment
• Cooperation on peace and security
• Strengthen cooperation on all aspects of migration, mobility and forced displacement
• Strengthen regional, subregional and interregional cooperation

For the Eastern Neighborhood:

• Investing in resilient, sustainable and integrated economies and sustainable connectivity
• Investing in democracy, good governance, peace and security, rule of law and justice
• Invest in sustainable energy, decarbonization, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and environmental resilience
• Investing in resilient digital transformation
• Investing in resilient, inclusive, diverse and gender-equal societies

For West Africa:

• Protect the environment and biodiversity and counter climate change
• Promote stabilization, security, democracy and democratic transitions, good governance and human rights
• Support inclusive and sustainable growth, promote decent jobs, and harness digital transformation
• Promote human development and gender equality
• Strengthen cooperation on all aspects of migration, mobility and forced displacement and address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement
• Strengthen partnerships

For Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean:

• Support inclusive and sustainable growth, promote decent jobs, and harness digital transformation
• Promote good governance, peace, democracy and human rights
• Protect the environment and biodiversity and combat climate change
• Promote human development and gender equality
• Strengthening partnerships

For the Middle East:

• Support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and harness digital transformation
• Protect the environment and biodiversity and combat climate change
• Promote human development, social inclusion and health
• Promote human rights, good governance, inclusive citizenship and peaceful and just societies and enhance cooperation on migration and mobility
• Supporting peace, security and conflict prevention
      Strengthening partnerships

For Central Asia:

• Promote peace, stability, good governance, human rights and human development, and counter irregular migration and forced displacement
• Protect the environment and biodiversity and counter climate change
• Support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent jobs and harness digital transformation
• Strengthening partnerships

For South Asia:

• Promote good governance, human development, and gender equality and counter irregular migration and forced displacement
• Protect the environment and counter climate change
• Support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent employment and harness digital transformation
• Promote peace, security and stability and prevent conflict
• Strengthening partnerships

For North and Southeast Asia:

• Promote good governance, human development, and gender equality
• Support peace, stability, security and conflict prevention
• Protect the environment and combat climate change
• Support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and harness digital transformation
• Address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement and facilitate orderly, safe and orderly migration and mobility
• Strengthening partnerships

For the Pacific:

• Protecting the environment and biodiversity and combating climate change
• Support inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent jobs
• Promote good governance, peace and security, rule of law, and human rights, including gender equality
• Promote human development
• Strengthening partnerships

For the Americas:

• Protecting the environment and biodiversity and combating climate change
• Digital transformation and innovation
• Supporting sustainable and inclusive economic recovery
• Supporting good governance, peace and security and countering irregular migration and forced displacement
• Fostering social cohesion, combating inequality and promoting human development
• Strengthening partnerships

For the Caribbean:

• Strengthen resilience to climate change and disasters, including green transition
• Promote sustainable growth and employment
• Support regional integration, trade and transnational cooperation
• Strengthen governance, peace, security and human development
• Support human rights and gender equality

Beneficiaries

Participation in the bidding and awarding of grants and prizes for actions financed under the geographic programs and the thematic program on civil society organizations and the thematic program on global challenges are open to international organizations, as well as to all other legal entities, including civil society organizations, that have a nationality and, in the case of legal entities, that are actually established in the following countries:

• (a) the Member States, the beneficiaries listed in the relevant annex of the IPA III Regulation and the contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
• (b) the Neighborhood Partner Countries and the Russian Federation, when the relevant procedure takes place in the context of the programs listed in Annex I in which it participates;
• (c) developing countries and territories, as included in the list of ODA recipients published by the OECD Development Assistance Committee, which are not members of the G20 group, and overseas countries and territories;
• (d) developing countries, as included in the list of ODA recipients, that are members of the G20 group, as well as other countries and territories, when the relevant procedure takes place in the context of an action financed by the Union under the instrument in which they participate;
• (e) countries for which reciprocal access to external financing is established by the Commission; reciprocal access may be granted, for a limited period of at least one year, whenever a country grants eligibility on equal terms to entities of the Union and countries eligible under the instrument; the Commission shall decide on reciprocal access and its duration after consultation with the recipient country or countries in question;
• (f) OECD member countries, in the case of contracts implemented in a Least Developed Country or Heavily Indebted Poor Country included in the list of PA recipients.

Participation in the tendering and awarding of grants and prizes for actions funded under the Human Rights and Democracy Thematic Program and the Peace, Stability and Conflict Prevention Thematic Program and Rapid Response Actions is open without restriction.

All supplies and materials funded under the facility can originate in any country.

Forms of Funding

Union funding may be provided through the types of funding provided for in the Financial Regulation, namely: 

• (a) grants;
• (b) public procurement of services, supplies or works;
• (c) budget support;
• (d) contributions to trust funds established by the Commission in accordance with Article 234 of the Financial Regulation;
• (e) financial instruments;
• (f) budget guarantees;
• (g) mixed financing operations;
• (h) debt relief, in the context of internationally agreed debt relief programs;
• (i) financial assistance;
• (j) external paid experts.

In working with stakeholders in partner countries such as civil society organizations and local authorities, the Commission shall take into account their specificities, including their context and needs, when designing funding modalities, type of contribution, award modalities, and administrative arrangements for grant management, with the aim of reaching and responding to the greatest number of such stakeholders as possible.

In addition to the cases referred to in Article 195 of the Financial Regulations, the direct award procedure may be used for: 

•  low-value grants to human rights defenders to fund emergency protection actions and needs;
• grants, possibly without the need for co-financing, to fund actions in the most difficult conditions, where the publication of a call for proposals is inappropriate;
• grants to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the Global Human Rights Campus, the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratization, and its associated network of universities awarding postgraduate degrees in human rights, including scholarships for students and human rights defenders from third countries;
• low-value grants to civil society organizations using, to the extent possible, simplified forms of funding in accordance with Article 125 of the Financial Regulation.

Financial instruments, budget guarantees, and blended financing operations under the Facility are implemented where possible under the leadership of the EIB, a European multilateral financial institution, such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or a European bilateral financial institution, such as development banks, possibly combined with other forms of financial support, whether from member states or third parties.

Where appropriate, an action that has received a contribution under the Facility may also receive a contribution from another Union program, provided that these contributions do not cover the same costs. The Facility may also contribute to measures established under other Union programs, provided that such contributions do not cover the same costs. The rules governing the respective program shall apply to the contribution made to the action by a Union program. Cumulative funding shall not exceed the total eligible costs of the action. Support from different Union programs may be calculated proportionally in accordance with the documents specifying the conditions for support.

The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) and the Guarantee for External Actions

The envelope of thematic programs finances the EFSD+ Fund and the Guarantee for External Actions.

The EFSD+ is an integrated financial package that can provide financial capacity in the form of grants, technical assistance, financial instruments, budget guarantees, and blended financing operations.

The purpose of the EFSD+ is to support investment and increase access to finance as a means of contributing to the realization of the overall objectives and principles of NDICI and, where appropriate, the objectives of the IPA III Regulation, while maximizing additionality and impact on development and implementing innovative products, including for SMEs.

The EFSD+ consists of regional investment platforms within regional geographic program areas, established on the basis of the working methods, procedures and structures of existing Union external blended finance mechanisms, which can combine their blended finance operations and operations supported by the Guarantee for External Actions under the EFSD+.

The Guarantee for External Actions supports:

•    EFSD+ operations that are covered by budget guarantees;
•    macro-financial assistance and loans to third countries under Article 10(2) of Regulation (Euratom) 2021/948.

The coverage rate ranges from 9 % to 50 %, depending on the type of operation.

The guarantee for external actions shall be used to cover the risks inherent in the following instruments: 

    (a) loans, including local currency loans; 
    (b) guarantees; 
    (c) counter-guarantees; 
    (d) capital market instruments; 
    (e) any other form of financing or credit support, insurance, and equity or quasi-equity participation.

Budget

The budget for the implementation of the NDICI Facility for the period from January 1 2021 to December 31 2027 is set at EUR 79 462 000 000 in current prices, of which:

    EUR 60 388 000 000 for geographic programs;
    EUR 6 358 000 000 for thematic programs;
    EUR 3 182 000 000 for rapid response actions.

The reserve for emerging challenges and priorities has a budget of EUR 9 534 000 000.

Links

Regulation (EU) 2021/947 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 June 2021 establishing the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe, amending and repealing Decision No 466/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Regulation (EU) 2017/1601 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 480/2009 (Text with EEA relevance)