DAECT
Fonction
Secrétariat
Organisation
Actions Extérieure des Collectivités Territoriales
Délégation pour l’action extérieure des collectivités territoriales
Délégation pour l’action extérieure des collectivités territoriales
Border Region
France, whole world
Language(s)
Français
Main Category
Introduction
The "external actions" departments of local authorities encourage and support all forms of so-called "decentralised cooperation" at local level.
Summary
In France, cooperation projects initiated by local authorities are managed at a decentralised level and, more often than not, result from free initiatives. These cooperation projections grouped together under the general term of "external actions of local authorities" are supported by a ministerial delegation. This support is implemented by different bodies (the National Commission on Decentralised Cooperation (CNCD), the Directorate General for Local Authorities (DGCL), enabled by different funding sources accessible via calls for projects and encouraged by different networking mechanisms.
Content
Since 2007, a specific law has encouraged and regulated the decentralisation of cooperation projects sponsored by French local authorities at cross-border and international level.
From a legal point of view, the term "external action of local authorities" refers to all the actions undertaken or supported by local authorities and groupings of authorities. This action is supported at ministerial level via a Delegation (Delegation for the External Actions of Local Authorities (DAECT)) which is responsible for defining and implementing the strategy for supporting the development of decentralised cooperation projects. It also has a job of keeping an up-to-date record of these decentralised cooperation initiatives, making proposals to reinforce this type of cooperation and encouraging partnerships with and between local authorities.
In practical terms, the Delegation organises triennial, annual, themed and bilateral calls for projects, develops partnerships, provides legal advice, supports associations of local authorities and fosters networking.
Its support is focused on several areas: sustainable development, public development aid, the climate, economic action, youth and vocational training, gender equality, agriculture and food security, heritage, tourism, attractiveness to students, digital technology, cross-border and European funding.
To carry out its task of keeping a record of cooperation projects, the Delegation has set up an Atlas of Decentralised Cooperation, which lists and maps all the different cooperation projects at European and international level.
In 2019, 4,700 French local authorities were involved in decentralised cooperation projects, working with 8,150 foreign local authorities in 10,440 partnerships. These cooperation projects covered 5 areas: the sustainable economy, social education and research, culture and heritage, the environment, the climate and energy, humanitarian policy and cross-border cooperation. At Franco-German level, 2,300 projects have been conducted, mainly in the cross-border regions.
Conclusions
Decentralised cooperation gathered speed in France at the beginning of the 2000s along with the move towards European integration and globalisation. More recently, a significant slowdown has been observed, especially following on from the 2008 economic crisis. In this context, the Delegation has played an even bigger role in terms of support and funding.
There are no geographical restrictions on the cooperation possible between local authorities, the only condition being that the foreign partner must be part of an internationally recognised state. The foreign partners are therefore found on all the continents, with an obvious concentration in French-speaking countries. The countries concerned can be developing, emerging or developed countries. In France the largest proportion of partnerships are located in border regions and in France's overseas territories, which benefit from a special regime.
In view of the decentralised nature of the international cooperation projects sponsored by local authorities, the Delegation's role is mainly political and financial. The Delegation has also played a major role in fostering networking and debate, a role mainly taken on by the National Commission for Decentralised Cooperation within which the different projects and dynamics are widely debated.
Lead
Délégation pour l’action extérieure des collectivités territoriales (DAECT)
Contributions
Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires étrangères, Commission Nationale de la Coopération Décentralisée (CNCD), Direction Générale des Collectivités Locales (DGCL)
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2020