The ‘Global Challenges’ programme of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument — Global Europe (NDICI-Global Europe) covers the global and multilateral dimension of the EU’s action to implement its political priorities. It aims to strengthen the EU as a global actor in the delivery of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement to help eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and achieve sustainable development.

This 2021-2027 programme will complement and strengthen the country and regional dimensions of EU action to pursue and project the EU’s interests and values in support of universal global agendas and initiatives, multilateralism and the rules-based global order, and position the EU as a global leader spearheading collaborative and transformative changes that will help us to ‘build back better’. In line with the 2030 Agenda, the European Consensus on Development and the European Commission’s geopolitical priorities, it will support global actions contributing to the objective of ‘a stronger Europe in the world’.

The programme will therefore act as a key instrument for the external projection of the EU’s policies, by helping it to leverage more effectively its regulatory power, high environmental and social standards, unique single market, and social market economy model.

Following the ‘geographisation’ and complementarity principles underpinning the 2021-2027 programming, the programme will deploy resources strategically to support truly global action, promoting the EU’s priorities and values. It thus complements and strengthens country, multi-country and regional actions by financing global and trans-regional actions and initiatives. This will result in activities addressing global challenges, supporting the pursuit of global goals, in particular the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, protecting global public goods, supporting multilateralism and the rules-based order, and promoting transformative changes.

The structure of the programme reflects the key intertwined pillars of the 2030 Agenda, which shape the SDGs: People, Planet, Prosperity and Partnership.