Projektstöd UfM - Medelhavsunionen

Key achievements 2022: - Political dialogue at regional level advanced, including Ministerial Meetings in the areas of Environment and Climate Action, Blue Economy, Energy. High level dialogue on promoting investment in Water and Climate, including the role of Private Sector (EU-UfM Water Investment Policy Forum). - UfM Secretariat supported several partners through dedicated technical assistances in the region to achieve related SDGs with the most scientific based approach, enhancing the role of youth and women. Those included the Youth Engagement Strategy; support entrepreneurial in water and renewable energy, reporting exercise on Gender indicators. Etc. - Organization of the UfM Ministerial meeting and signature of Ministerial agreement on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society (n Madrid, October 2022). - Coordination of a Mediterranean Pavilion at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, including advance the investment in the main sectors of water, climate, and blue economy. Some 60 events was arranged in the Mediterranean Pavilion. - Advancement of the WEFE nexus proof of concept in Palestine and Jordan by the recipient entity GWP-MED. Delays of this programme resulted in the 9 month extension of the UfM programme up to 30 September 2023. Work included: * Building constructed wetlands for tertiary treatment of the WWTP outflow, providing 45m3 (Palestine) and 21 m3 (Jordan) of treated wastewater/day, and reusing that for irrigation in the pilot farms. * Planting of trees in the new irrigation areas in the pilot farms. * Installing irrigation networks of total 24 dunums (Palestine) and 9 dunums (Jordan) in the 3 pilot farms in each country. * Installing solar power stations supplying with 60 kWp (Palestine) and 37 kWp (Jordan) to cover the irrigation pumping costs of the new plantations. * Activities to disseminate the WEFE best practices, including by holding regional training (scheduled in Amman 7-9 May 2023) and prepare for replication on the concepts to other MENA countries.

The support to the Union for the Mediterranen (UfM) will enable and strengthen the UfM regional dialogue towards and within the member states of the union's Southern area (MENA-countries), targeting three prioritesed themes of (1) women's economic empowerment (gender equality); (2) water, environment and blue economy; and (3) energy and climate change. The project document states "The overall objective of the proposed agreement is to define a structured cooperation between Sida and the UfMS through a multi -year support framework targeted to UfMs core activities with a focus on MENA countries, allowing their deepening and amplification. This is a process oriented programme with medium term goals in each of the three specific sectors of intervention, with annually defined monitoring indicators. The Union for the Mediterranean is a unique framework for cooperation and dialogue in the Mediterranean region with a clear mandate to foster regional cooperation and integration with a view to improve stability and social well - being. Political recognition and impulse through an increasing number UfM Ministerial Meetings have provided guidance in a number of areas. Within this context, the UfM Secretariat has increasingly been attributed the role of animating various regional dialogue platforms and/or expert groupsbringing together national counterparts but also donors, international financial institutions, experts, civil society, private sector, think tanks and academics. An additional role in monitoring progress in implementing regional agendas has emerged alongside it,promoting concrete cooperation on the ground.Within this framework, the Secretariat acts as a facilitator to animate policy dialogues,exchange of experience, definition of priorities at regional level in sectors of its mandate,through building on national commitment of countries involved and gathering relevant stakeholders and actors that can promote changes on the ground. The intervention logic of the proposed programme is therefore structured around three axes coherent with the UfMS' core activities, which are key to the success of activities:a) Regional policy dialogues to consolidate (emerging) processes in the 3 selected sectors, ensure their sustainability, and enlarge the multi-partners approach;b) Promotion of regional gortfolio, activities of dialogue and coordination that may belinked to existing initiatives and programmes or may allow defining new concrete priorities.c) Technical support, coordination and monitoring of activities so as to plan, execute,coordinate, ensure follow- up and report on agreed activities to successfully implementand oversee the present agreement and its activities.2 More specifically, this implies the countries of Sida's MENA strategy that are also UfM Member countries. Expertise and technical assistance that could be mobilised are detailed in each of thethree proposed axes.