Change
European Initiative is a not-for-profit organisation and registered UK
charity (No. 1096614).
As a facilitator of change, it helps to design, implement, and monitor
policy and programme/project interventions at international, national,
regional, and cross-border levels, including community-led local development (CLLD).
European Initiative works with state and
non-state actors to: address agri-rural-eco-environmental development
issues; identify relevant theories of change; help countries mitigate,
adapt to, and manage the effects of climate change; as well as encourage
greater cooperation and coexistence between those living in the EU and the European
neighbourhood space.
Focus
Society’s main existential threat is climate change.
COP28 in Dubai saw nations agree to fund assistance for those most impacted by climate change (loss and damage) and “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.” Targets for water security, ecosystem restoration, and health were set for 2030. The Global Goal on Adaptation spoke of “accelerating the use of ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions”. Alignment around emissions reductions consistent with the goals of limiting warming to C1.5 above pre-industrial levels and reaching net zero by 2050 was made explicit.
COP29 in Baku saw global agreement on providing financial support to help developing countries adapt their economies to meet climate change requirements but left them seriously disappointed.
COP30 in Belém called for mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 for climate action, alongside tripling adaptation finance. It also launched two major initiatives to help countries deliver on their national climate action plans. And, for the first time, it acknowledged the need to tackle climate disinformation, pledging to promote information integrity.
Linked to this, destabilising population migration/displacement - whether due to climate change, lack of access to land/water, hunger/famine, poverty, and/or armed conflict - needs to be addressed on a sustainable basis, in part by aiming to increase real incomes in migrants' countries, particularly in rural areas.
Neighbourhood
As climate change neither recognises nor stops at borders,
evidence-based interventions must be developed not only at national
and global levels, but also regionally. This applies to
Wider Europe which includes the western
Balkans, Turkey, the Middle East & North Africa (MENA), and EU
Neighbours East.
Countries in this space are generally less wealthy than those in the EU (as reflected in the concentration of light in the website's header image). The failure of its leaders to distribute fairly the benefits of their domestic natural resource endowments has forced many rural people, particularly young men, to migrate in search of higher incomes. This has caused local labour shortages and reduced population densities.
At the same time, domestic resistance to migration is likely to frustrate attempts to fill local manpower gaps in countries receiving migrants.
Experience
European Initiative has significant
global experience at senior level of assembling and managing project
teams of international and local personnel to build state/non-state capacity and facilitate cooperation between key stakeholders. Such teams aim to maximise policy impact,
contribute to achieving the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs),
achieve quality assurance of task delivery, and ensure transparent
financial management of complex, donor-funded projects.
European Initiative's work has
included:
-
producing evidence-based policy (and drafting legislation) for the
development of agri-rural, environmental, and forestry sectors, including carbon markets;
- converting marginal agriculture land to more profitable uses;
- improving sustainable land use/natural resource management, including wetland conservation;
-
addressing environmental and climate change adaptation/mitigation
issues, including the use of nature-based solutions (adaptation, enhancement, and inspiration);
- promoting the agriculture knowledge and innovation system (AKIS), EU-Farmbook, Horizon Europe, and related projects/networks, as well as e-agriculture and smart agriculture;
-
using market system development (MSD) to diversify rural employment
opportunities, slow down/reverse migration from rural areas, empower women, and promote youth;
-
undertaking public finance management and reform, as well as
designing and delivering budget support programmes;
-
restructuring, refinancing, refocusing, and revitalising not-for-profit organisations and NGOs;
- turning around unprofitable private companies.
Interventions
European Initiative implements
evidence-based interventions that are focused on sustainable climate
change/environment and agri-rural development. Generally donor-funded, they involve the design and delivery of targeted technical
assistance, training, and capacity building, and are fully aligned with, and complementary to, government
strategies and the SDGs.
Approach
European Initiative’s general approach
is to:
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promote cooperation, dialogue, and information exchange between the
public, private, university, not-for-profit/NGO, media, and legal sectors;
-
work with key stakeholders to develop and implement evidence-based
strategy and policy;
-
assist development actors to improve their management of operational
change;
-
establish baseline data to measure change due to new interventions;
-
facilitate international exchange visits to observe best/latest
practices, encourage comparative analysis, achieve economies of
scale/synergies, and increase cross-border cooperation;
-
monitor ongoing project implementation/financing, identify new
project and funding possibilities, and propose policy interventions
to governments.
Europe
As the EU is a key player in the future development of
Wider Europe, it is important to be
aware of current strategic thinking in Brussels, particularly the EU's Green Deal, as well as its forestry and biodiversity strategies.
Countries in the wider European neighbourhood space wishing to
negotiate closer links with the EU, through either direct membership
or preferential trade/non-trade arrangements, must be able to
demonstrate rapid alignment with European values, directives, and
regulations, and show clear roadmaps for dealing with climate change, environment, decarbonisation, renewable
energy, agri-rural development, and migration.
Cases
Examples of recent activities undertaken by
European Initiative include:
-
linking private rewilding initiatives in the west of Scotland and
north-east Portugal with a NGO working on natural resource management and climate mitigation/adaptation in the western
Balkans, to create a cooperation and information exchange network;
- cooperating with NGOs on: implementing projects, technical assistance, and research; preparing a climate
change strategy; improving communications with the European Commission, consultancy companies, and other stakeholders based in Brussels; reporting findings from joint activities to key stakeholders; and positioning better both organisations in the western Balkans and wider Europe;
- helping prepare technical proposals for donor-funded projects in Uzbekistan, ACP countries, North Macedonia, Albania, and Georgia;
- identifying possibilities for cross-border cooperation and networking in the western Balkans region;
- supporting Ukraine's EU accession process related to Chapters 11-13 of the acquis, including institutional and policy reform of smallholder agriculture.
Cooperation
European Initiative uses its extensive professional experience to help development partners in Wider Europe to:
-
manage sustainable change by developing
strategic direction, building organisational capacity, and enhancing
staff expertise;
-
bid for projects
funded by bilateral and multilateral donors;
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undertake study visits; benefit
from distance learning; identify new contacts, networks,
organisations, and development partners; cooperate remotely in
research projects/activities; and participate in European project
consortia;
- assess green and blue ecosystem development opportunities, potential investments, and policy interventions (related to natural resource management, carbon markets, climate change, land use, forestry, onshore/offshore renewable energy, and biotechnology).
Investment
In addition to addressing the twin issues of climate change and population migration/displacement, European Initiative is seeking private sector partners with whom it can co-invest in forestry, offshore/onshore renewable energy, and biotechnology/life science projects that provide a solid financial return and contribute to mitigating climate change.
Activities undertaken by
European Initiative in this eco-space include:
- planting 460 ha. of commercial forestry in the south-west and north-east of Scotland;
- taking advantage of investment opportunities covering afforestation, peatland and seagrass restoration, fixed/floating wind and solar energy, battery storage, wave and tidal energy, hydrogen production/distribution, environmental certification, and robotics/artificial intelligence/automation;
- creating a commercial forest in Scotland (25 ha.) thirty miles south of Glasgow;
- using EIS and SEIS tax advanges to invest in UK start-up companies that are focused on replacing plastic with cellulose, gene control, biofilm prevention technology, early cancer detection, robotically assisted surgery, advanced electrolyte/battery technology, soft robotics for therapeutic recovery, and laboratory production of red blood cells;
- investing in a large-scale wind farm to be constructed in Wales.
Contact
If you would like further information about
European Initiative and/or to discuss
possible cooperation within (and beyond!)
Wider Europe, please contact Ross Bull
(rossbull@widereurope.eu) whose CV is available on request.
European Initiative operates from
London, Edinburgh, Montpellier, Belgrade, and Kyiv.
