2020: the real challenge is ahead
Yes! It is yet again that moment of the year in which it is nearly impossible to avoid looking back at what the last twelve months have represented in our collective and personal lives. The most relevant news, the best (and worst) films, the best 9-pictures on Instagram…everything is subject to scrutiny and ranking during the last days of December.
Such a year-end summary, rather than a nostalgic exercise, should act as the basis for a “now what?” reflection, to properly address what will be a demanding future for us all. So: here goes what 2019 has represented for the TESIM team.
A year of soft change
Even if the transfer to DG REGIO will officially take place only on 1 January 2020, for TESIM – in the same way as for programmes – it actually started eight months ago, at the time of the annual conference in Rome. Whatever our impressions (and fears) back in April, we can conclude in full serenity that things have run quite smoothly since then. The risk of having ENI CBC absorbed too quickly by a huge machinery that has been running for 30 years now has sometimes been around the corner, but so far so good. Very good, actually! ENI CBC specificities have been understood quickly and, as far as TESIM is concerned, we have been able to demonstrate where our added value stands when compared to similar support instruments.
A year of constant growth
But change for TESIM has not only been boosted by the institutional environment. ENI CBC stakeholders grow, in numbers and in their level of experience. And your growth is our growth. It requests our project to adapt in order to give response to more targeted and practical needs, something which affects the contents, the methods and the resources. Content-wise, new intervention possibilities have gathered our attention this year, starting by the thematic analysis of what ENI CBC is already achieving through its approved projects. In terms of methods, the first webinars have been conducted, and a training-of-trainers approach is gradually gathering momentum, so that programme staff is even more skilled and fully autonomous in terms of delivery. And in terms of resources, the team has never been so populated! National experts have now received a full TESIM branding and the communication team has been reinforced.
And what about the good intentions?
Of course! What would a year end be without setting good intentions for the coming one? Our first and foremost intention is that of continuing the provision of valuable support to the implementation of ENI CBC programmes and projects. And for 2020 we count on multiple sources of inspiration that guide us in achieving such aim. You have listed your requests for support during the needs assessment recently carried out, be it through personal interviews or answering online to our queries. But, most important, you have also responded to our satisfaction survey, which clearly tells us that – while positively satisfied so far – you look forward to receiving an upgraded level of support, one that is more result-oriented than in the past. Well noted: we will work on that!
And why deny it? The NDICI Interreg programming is a real stimulus. Your requests for support in this field have largely exceeded our expectations, and we are thrilled about the prospects: mapping the reality of the territories, consulting stakeholders in the field, contribute to building new intervention strategies…just exciting! Moreover, for the first time in three exercises, all us experts are now gathered under the same project and working with a single vision. A novelty also for us.
We all have already a first clear milestone in our agendas: the annual conference that will take place in Brussels on 28-29 January. If, as the saying goes, “the day can be guessed from its morning”, 2020 will rock! For now, and from us all, seasons greetings and best wishes for 2020!