Forging partnerships

International cooperation is a matter of partnerships. We want to contribute to building a better world. This ambitious goal can only be achieved by working with a broad range of partners, who complement each other and help to increase each other’s impact.

Who do we work with?

We want to bring about change together with the institutions and citizens of our partner countries in Africa and the Middle East. We call on the know-how and experience of the most suitable public services, research centres, universities, NGOs, businesses, development agencies, donors and other organisations to enhance the impact and relevance of our activities.

Therefore, Enabel enters into strategic partnerships with the public and private sector and with civil society actors, using each other’s competitive advantage and respecting everyone’s principles and uniqueness to collectively achieve more sustainable results.

As the implementing agency of the Belgian governmental cooperation, Enabel plays a key role in facilitating the Belgian government’s approach on international solidarity.

In line with this, we are committed to strengthening our cooperation with other Belgian actors for international cooperation in a spirit of enhanced cooperation at European level.

What kind of partnerships?

Public partnerships

Many government agencies have unique competences that are hard to find on the market. Strengthening the public institutions of our partner countries is central in the governmental cooperation implemented by Enabel. To that end, exchanging with peers in the context of a development project is of great value. Like a broker Enabel provides the context, relationships and follow-up for expertise that is often found only in public institutions.

Through these public-public partnerships we also enhance the Belgian public contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in Belgium and abroad.

Civil society partnerships

Enabel acknowledges the added value of Belgian non-governmental organisations’ close ties with local civil society. Enabel’s actions can be more relevant and achieve greater impact thanks to their specific expertise in certain areas and within their non-governmental mandate as civil society actors in a human-rights based approach.

Strategic partnerships with Belgian, local and international civil society actors allow – within the priorities of Belgian Development Cooperation – for a better informed, longer-term, more structural and complementary pursuit of shared development objectives.

Private sector partnerships

Enabel sees partnerships with the private sector as strategic to achieve synergies and complementarity. For example, for a project in the port of Cotonou in Benin, we are working together with the Port of Antwerp. Then, through a partnership with Colruyt, date producers from Morocco find a market in Belgium. By means of these partnerships, we want to increase the impact of our work.

EU member states & cooperation agencies

Enabel develops partnerships with European and international donors and development agencies to enhance the impact of Belgian and European cooperation. These partnerships strengthen our cooperation with partner countries and aim to mobilise additional financial resources and promote complementarity between European actors.

Furthermore, Enabel is a member of many networks that allow us to join forces with other actors to strengthen our clout on a particular theme.

Some partnerships in the spotlight

Security is a human right. That is why it is important for the Belgian Federal Police to support the capacities of other police forces so that they can guarantee a sense of security and development prospects for the population. The Belgian Federal Police help develop neighbourhood policing in Burkina Faso and maritime security in Benin.

Cooperation with the Belgian Federal Police

Research centres and universities are important partners in public-public cooperation. To shape a One Stop Centre for the reception of victims of sexual violence in Kisangani, DR Congo, Enabel is working with the University of Ghent, UCLouvain and the University of Kisangani.

Cooperation with University of Kisangani, UGhent and UCLouvain

The port of Cotonou in Benin is one of the largest ports in West Africa. Enabel, in collaboration with the Port of Antwerp, is supporting its modernisation to make it more competitive and efficient.

Cooperation with the Port of Antwerp

While emergency vaccination assistance is now a priority for Europe’s development cooperation agencies, it already comes with first steps towards future vaccine and health self-sufficiency. Belgium intends to be part in this international effort.

Cooperation between the African Union and the European Union

Enabel has concluded more than 60 partnerships with Belgian government institutions, research centres, universities, civil society organisations and private sector actors. A selection of our partners:

Whom to contact for partnerships?

Does your organisation also wish to enter into a partnership with Enabel? Our Institutional Relations service will put you in touch with the most appropriate experts to further discuss partnership opportunities.

News & Events

News

20 November 2024

COP29: Enabel welcomes climate financing from the Walloon region for the preservation of lake Kivu and Tanganyika in Africa

The Tanganyika Kivu Water Management Project (TAKIWAMA), with a total budget of 31 million euro, is part of the Team Europe Initiative on Transboundary Water Management in Africa, which aims to improve cooperation between African countries for the sustainable management of shared water resources.

Events

07 November 2024

EU climate policies and impact on youth in developing countries

In the framework of COP29, Enabel is co-organising a side event to discuss how EU climate policies impact low and middle-income countries.

Events

25 October 2024

Delivering impact by strengthening collaboration in fragile low-income contexts

In the framework of the 2024 World Bank Group Annual Meeting, Enabel organised a side-event together with Expertise France, GIZ and SNV.

Resources

09 October 2024

Belgium-Rwanda bilateral cooperation – Programme report 2019-2024

The 2019-2024 Belgium-Rwanda Cooperation programme contributed to the advancement of Rwanda’s sustainable development goals, enhanced socio-economic well-being, and fostered inclusive growth.

national teachers' college in kaliro, Uganda

Resources

08 October 2024

Promoting the widespread use of ecological and resilient infrastructures

In the face of climate and environmental challenges, Enabel is in favour of the widespread application of green building principles in cooperation programmes.