EU, UNDP and partners launch new framework for local economic development – the Pathways for Economic Growth (P4EG)

This March, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and their partners launched the Pathways for Economic Growth (P4EG) framework. This methodology is developed to design a new generation of local economic development plans in the context of the EU-funded project – Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG).

Partner organisations include Arup, EIT Climate-KIC, and Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech).

The P4EG framework helps cities assess the best social, environmental, and economic factors in local development, as well as the potential for scaling up their projects in cooperation with central governments, donors, and European and International Financial Institutions.

Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager for Digital Transition and Local Economic Development in DG NEAR, said that the P4EG framework will play “a key role in building pipelines of investment projects at the local level, which will help cities mobilise more public-private financing under the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Eastern Partnership region”.  

The P4EG Guidance Note and the P4EG introduction course are already available for users from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. 

The M4EG Facility draws on the Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative, launched and funded by the European Union (EU) in 2017. Since 2021, the EU-funded M4EG Facility has been managed by UNDP in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and a range of diverse partners.

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Press release