Target group
The seminar will be targeted at public officials and practitioners from national, regional and local public administrations, authorities or bodies involved or interested in the design, implementation and evaluation of development cooperation projects subject to compliance with European and international funds resources. Civil servants from EU Member States as well as from third countries are the main target of this practical seminar. Given its emphasis on decentralised cooperation, however, the seminar is also of interest to NGOs, associations from civil society, the private sector, consultants and practitioners dealing with development and cooperation from the territorial perspective.

Description
In the last two decades, international development cooperation has been characterised by the emergence of a large and varied number of "new" actors, namely regional and local governments, the private sector, universities, NGOs and the civil society. These ‘new’ cooperation actors generally work towards the achievement of common goals, but with different chronograms, modalities, administrative mechanisms and technical and evaluation approaches.
In a context of reduction of main financial allocations, there is a strong potential to enrich the quality of cooperation though the exchange of best practices and innovations in the field of development and decentralisation processes. Regional and local governments may in fact offer a valuable and more locally-placed alternative to the traditional State-centred and North-South approaches.
The seminar will address the most relevant issues on decentralised cooperation at the international and EU level and it will provide participants with practical advice and techniques as well as allowing them to learn about ‘best practices’ in the field of decentralised cooperation and to exchange valuable experiences. .

Learning methodology
A combination of training methods will be used, such as lectures, presentations and practical case studies. A participatory workshop on the analysis of the ‘most likely expected problems’ in the experiences of decentralised cooperation will be also included. This practical workshop, in which the audience is divided into groups, will provide participants with some valuable instruments in order to anticipate future crucial issues in the development of programmes and/or projects in the field of decentralised cooperation.
The presentations are given by experts, academics, public officials and European, national, regional and local representatives. Participants are provided with comprehensive documentation and relevant background materials.

Objectives
The world of international donors is composed of a limited number of international institutions, and many national States with their specialised agencies (among others: United Nations (UNDP), the OECD (Development Assistance Committee – DAC), the EU (EuropAid), the World Bank). The European Union as a whole (Member States plus Commission-managed funds) is the most generous donor of official development aid worldwide. The EU is also a paradigmatic illustration of a new multilevel approach to development cooperation, where territorial actors (civil society and sub-national authorities) can play a relevant role.
The main objective of the seminar is therefore to provide participants with a ‘minimum toolbox’ for entering into the field of development cooperation. The specific objectives include:
• Understanding the multilevel and multi-actor scenario of decentralised cooperation at the international level;
• Grasping the most relevant guiding principles and rules when it comes to preparing a bid for international funding;
• Enabling participants to understand and anticipate the main problems in the practical experiences of decentralised cooperation