BRIEFLY ABOUT THE EU AND ITS WORK IN ESWATINI:

The EU is a political, economic and defence union of 27 European countries ( Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden), based on shared values.

The EU has delivered more than half a century of peace, stability and prosperity and has helped raise the living standards for its more than 340 million citizens.

In the Kingdom of Eswatini, the EU has been a steady development partner for the country for more than 50 years now. This partnership focuses on peace, stability, good governance and the rule of law, promotion of human rights and contributing towards poverty and inequality reduction, the promotion of sustainable and inclusive growth and development as well as support to youth employment, inclusion and women empowerment. In pursuit of democracy, good governance, rule of law and human rights, the EU also supports the democratisation process in Eswatini. This is done through regular political dialogues, support to human rights defenders and other civil society organisations ( CSOs) as well as direct engagements with the country’s authorities, including the King. To illustrate the partnership, the EU has contributed millions of Euros ( billions of Emalangeni) to multiple sectors of Eswatini to help support the country improve access to clean and potable water, education, health, agriculture, infrastructure development, strengthening of governance, democracy and human rights, institutional capacity building and trade facilitation, among the many projects. Between 2009 and 2014 alone, the EU contributed in the excess of E3 billion to Eswatini’s development initiatives including the support to the sugar sector, a major driver of employment in the country, by also directly supporting smallholder sugar farmers. Of particular note is the fact that between 2010 and 2015, the EU contributed extensively to helping Eswatini achieve universal primary education by contributing E158 million towards free primary education in Eswatini. Through the Support to Education and Training Programme ( SET), the EU supported the country to achieve Millennium Development Goal ( MDG) 2 – universal primary education. The programme actually assisted over 163 000 children to go to primary school and thus helped the country to achieve a 97 pre cent enrolment rate, up from 67 per cent.

Furthermore, between 2014 and 2021, the EU invested more than SZL1.2 billion in Eswatini, focussing on agriculture, social protection and support to civil society and human rights projects.

Going forward, for the period 2022- 2024, the EU will provide funding amounting to more than E500 million ( or EUR 32 million) to reinforce its bilateral cooperation with Eswatini and advance shared values and interests. This new Multiannual Indicative Programme ( MIP) ( 1) for Eswatini will support Human Capital Development and Social Inclusion through a focus on two interlinked sectors – ( 1) market- driven vocational education and training ( TVET) and ( 2) empowerment of disadvantaged youth and women in vulnerable situations.