Bilateral project challenges Lisbon January 2016 Liss Schanke Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities

Analysis of bilateral cooperation: too important theme for 5 minutes KS involved in EEA projects in Portugal since 2011 Presently involved in 2 projects, the predefined 3 yrs project on harassment and the NGO project om equality in municipalities Also involved in EEA programmes/projects in 12 other EU countries Will therefore focus on some common needs and challenges – as an input to discussion on possible improvement in the next EEA period Reports on the KS experiences in the Portuguese EEA projects have been sent to the project promoters, free to share them with others.

Challenges for national and bilateral partners Motivation: why does the project want a bilateral partner? P/N Level: is it better to have bilateral speakers – not partners? P/N Budget: Does the budget give room for a bilateral partner? P/N Time: Is a bilateral partnership with little time worth it? P/N Communication: Are project partners willing to use English? P/N Exchange: Are data comparative and available in English? P/N Management: Is project management efficient? P/N Synergy effects: Do we explore programme synergy effects? P/N Time to learn: Do we give sufficient time for discussions? P/N Mutual learning: What did the project partners learn? P/N

Additional information: Municipal equality indicators and planning Norway has a Municipal Gender Equality Index. Data are collected/analysed annually by Statistical Bureau Norway. The index contains data regarding 16 differents measurable variables relevant for gender equality for all N. municipalities. This enables all municipalities to know their status, compare their status/development to national average and other municipalities Can measure changes - as basis for strategic planning and activities KS has elaborated a description of the system with examples of from 3 municipalities as part of an EEA project in Spain: demokrati/internasjonalt-samarbeid/prosjekter/work-life-balance- cooperation-project-between-spain-and-norway/ demokrati/internasjonalt-samarbeid/prosjekter/work-life-balance- cooperation-project-between-spain-and-norway/