Development programmes

1. Purpose and aim of the programme

The Programme’s primary objective is to provide assistance to stakeholders that are implementing programmes under the European Territorial Cooperation Objective. INTERACT offers advice on implementation issues, support the organisation of thematic seminars, and provides good practice examples. It aims at helping stakeholders to fully exploit the potential of the EU’s territorial cooperation programmes.

INTERACT targets the institutions and organisations that have been set up around Europe to manage territorial cooperation programmes – especially managing authorities and joint technical secretariats, as well as monitoring committees, national contact points, certifying authorities and audit bodies.

2. Expected impact of the investment

The Programme’s main focus will be to:

• generate and share knowledge among stakeholders;
• contribute to improving procedures and tools that will help achieve high-quality programme implementation; and
• disseminate good governance approaches to interested target groups.

INTERACT is a technical support programme that aims to enhance the implementation and delivery of programmes that fall under the European Territorial Cooperation Objective. Its core mission is to identify, describe and disseminate effective approaches to good governance that are relevant to the management of cross-border, trans-national and interregional cooperation programmes.

Getting institutions from Member States to work together and across different countries is an extremely complex task, one which presents a number of challenges for the management and governance of territorial cooperation programmes. INTERACT should go some way towards addressing issues that hamper the cooperative process.

3. Priorities

The Operational Programme is structured around the following priorities:

Priority 1: Service development and delivery [approximately 94% of total funding]

This priority deals with the generation, delivery and dissemination of services and products based on the best practice, knowledge and experiences of actors that are working in territorial cooperation. The Programme will offer enabling activities, development of tools and quality management practices. It will also support a growing network of target groups and other stakeholders which actively contribute to the generation and sharing of knowledge in this field.

Priority 2: Technical assistance [approximately 6% of total funding]

Technical assistance will support activities relating to the preparation, management, evaluation and control of Operational Programmes. Support will also be provided to boost administrative capacity. Technical assistance is mainly entrusted to the INTERACT secretariat by the Managing Authority of the Programme.

4. Managing Authority