The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to an increased awareness and evidence-based policy making of regional and national actors in relation to areas of relevance for the European Neighbourhood Policy in the Southern Mediterranean region.
The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
– To foster evidence-based research policy dialogue and research in the priority areas of economic development, security and migration. Each action should have the necessary flexibility to adapt to emerging regional issues.
– Based on peer-to-peer work, to build the analytical and research skills and capacities in Southern Neighbourhood countries. Each action should seek to strengthen cooperation between research networks, think-tanks, universities, academia, policy makers, civil society, non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
– To have a strong outreach component and wide dissemination of research results to stimulate policy debate with national policy-makers, EU institutions, and other relevant stakeholders.
The priorities of this call for proposals are:
-Economic development: Trade and investments as factors of regional integration as well as their impact on employment; trends and policies aiming at an increased integration of North Africa in the African continent; private sector development and job creation, in particular for youth; the role of digital in the new economy; role of informal/parallel sectors in the local economies and policies to lead it to formalisation;  perspectives and policies aiming at enhancing new economic models in the Southern Neighbourhood region, respectful of its social foundations and the environment, also looking at issues such as inclusive finance, circular and social economy.
-Security: Modernisation of the national security sectors (also called Security Sector Reform – SSR), terrorism and other forms of violent extremism (including prevention), trans-national organised crime, cybercrime, the full cycle of crisis and disaster management (prevention, preparedness and response).
-Migration: Regular economic migration and mobility; asylum and protection; irregular migration; migrant smuggling; border management; economic impact of migration in countries of origin, transit countries and countries of destination modalities to ensure a positive role of the diaspora in the socio-economic development
Each action should address at least two of the above priorities.
The core geographic focus of each piece of research work must be the Southern Neighbourhood, but can be extended, as appropriate, to neighbouring areas, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and other UfM countries.