Following a first meeting in Beirut from 28 to 30 January 2015, Anima Investment Network will hold the second EDILE seminar from 21 to 22 April 2015 in Marseille. Its main aim will be to develop and optimise the performance of investment projects in line with social and environmental responsibility criteria.  

The European programme, piloted by a Euro-Mediterranean consortium which is led by Anima, intends to contribute further to developing employment and local economies while also looking after the environment, particularly through improved assessment of investment projects.  Since 2000, countries to the South of the Mediterranean have benefitted from increasing investment flows.  But they do not always have the anticipated impact on the local economy.

With a budget of €1.7 million over two years, EDILE aims to equip decision-makers with an array of governance and assessment tools.  By improving impact quantification, it will allow them to make better decisions. 

A first model of the scheme, which has a scoring system to assess 37 different criteria (the "EDILE toolkit") is currently being rolled out to 17 Lebanese and Tunisian business ventures in the agri-food industry, eco-tourism, waste treatment, renewable energy, industry and construction.

"2015 is a crucial year, explains Violène Mendonça, project head at Anima. We’ll hold four regional seminars and a number of training sessions over the year". The initiative also aims to establish a label for virtuous companies. A proposal for this will be put forward this year.

http://www.edile-initiative.org/en

The FEMISE network has won a European tender for a four-year project on research into political and economic issues.

"Support to Economic research, studies and dialogues in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership". In a further success, FEMISE has won the tender for a project launched by the European Commission's Cooperation and Development department (EuropeAid), receiving a budget of €2.5 million for a 4-year project.  "The EU has renewed its trust in us. We had already won the last three consultations. With this latest project we will need to foster dialogue and research into political and economic issues in areas related to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership" explains Dr Constantin Tsakas, General Secretary of FEMISE and Acting General Manager of the Institute of the Mediterranean.

FEMISE, which comprises economic institutes from both sides of the Mediterranean "will produce thematic reports to feed into the discussions between researchers and political representatives" says Dr Maryse Louis, Acting General Manager of FEMISE. "We have planned to hold at least two thirty-participant seminars per year, as well as an annual conference bringing together 200 people by the end of 2015 or the start of 2016".

FEMISE will also publish its researchers' work to civil society and political decision-makers. "We will publish around thirty policy briefs to 5,000 political representatives. We will also release a volume containing all of our publications."

Finally, the network will carry out around thirty studies over the next four years on topics to be "determined together following an internal tender process, from which we will draw the best suggestions".
Last but not least, FEMISE will publish an annual report setting out an accurate picture of the situation in each Mediterranean country.