Projektstöd UfM - Medelhavsunionen Project support Ufm - Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean, UfM, has applied to Sida for the funding of their project on Regional Dialogue and Cooperation towards the MENA region, with a purpose of strengthening the regional dialogue within the priority areas of women's empowerment/gender; water, environment and blue economy; and energy and climate change.

The Union for the Mediterranean is an intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to deepen the regional dialogue around the Mediterranean and the 43 member states. The UfM is one of few fora for meetings between representatives from Israel and the Arab world. The priority areas mentioned above coincides with the overarching prioritised areas within Swedish aid cooperation, as well as those given within the Regional strategy for Sweden's development cooperation with the Middle East and North Africa, MENA, 2016-2020. The intent of the contribution to the UfM apart from strengthening the regional dialogue, is to also strengthen  Sida's own dialogue with partners in the MENA region, whose projects to a large extent have been labelled by the UfM. UfM, Medelhavsunionen, har ansökt om medel hos Sida för att genomföra projektet UfM Regional Cooperation Programme, i syfte att förstärka den regionala dialogen gentemot MENA-länderna inom de prioriterade områdena för kvinnors egenmakt (jämställdhet); vatten, miljö och blå ekonomi; samt inom energi och klimatförändringar.

Medelhavsunionen är en mellanstatlig organisation vars syfte det är att fördjupa den regionala dialogen kring Medelhavet och de 43 medlemsländerna. Sidas fokus för samarbetet ligger på länderna i MENA-regionen. UfM är ett av få forum för möten mellan representanter för Israel och arabvärlden. De prioriterade områdena ovan sammanfaller med både övergripande prioriterade områden inom svensk biståndspolitik, såväl som de som återges inom den regionala strategin för Sveriges utvecklingssamarbete med Mellanöstern och Nordafrika, MENA, 2016-2020. Avsikten med stödet till Medelhavsunionen utöver att stärka den regionala dialogen, är att samtidigt stärka Sidas egen dialog med partners i MENA regionen, vars projekt i många fall har bejakats av Medelhavsunionen.

Sidas stöd till Medelhavsunionen utgörs av projektstöd under perioden 2017-2020. Stödet går till organisationens kärnverksamhet inom tre prioriterade områden (se ovan). Totalsumman är 63 220 000 MSEK, uppdelat på fyra utbetalningar. EU finansierar unionen med cirka 50% av den årliga budgeten och medlemsländerna förväntas bidra med återstående 50%. Sidas stöd är dock separat till denna budget, då stödet riktar sig mot enbart MENA-regionen i enlighet med den regionala MENA-strategin. Ingen vidareförmedling till tredje part ingår i stödet. 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.