Since September 2024, the Unite Caribbean Group has been providing technical support to COREOM project leaders in the Atlantic region. Beyond providing one-off support, the team has a clear mission: to strengthen the capacities of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the long term, so that they become actors in solid, structured, and sustainable regional cooperation.
Structuring support, designed with the carriers
What is COREOM's role? For Damien Girou, it's not just a fund: “It is a structuring framework and a methodology.”
Project Manager at the Emergence Caribbean association - member of the Unite Caribbean group1 – Damien explains the issues, challenges and added value of this support system, designed to strengthen the capacities of associations and encourage their development of skills, well beyond just financial support.
First of all, the support methodology developed by Emergence Caribbean is based on aindividualized associative diagnosis, a tool which makes it possible to evaluate the maturity of structures on different dimensions(partnerships, governance, project management, budget monitoring, etc.). “The support themes were defined with the project leaders, based on their priorities and needs. ". Each winning structure thus benefits from a personalized roadmap, supported by a transferable toolbox, and supplemented by collective workshops open to all CSOs, whether or not they have won the program, organized locally in tandem with Karib Horizon, another territorial animation structure of the program.
A relationship of support, not interference
One of the major areas of support is the strengthening of partnership management, which is often complex in cross-border contexts. We don't replace anyone: we help to set the right milestones, organize the flow, and remind the project partners of their commitments and responsibilities.
This involves meetings, bilateral exchanges, reminders of conventions, but above all, careful listening to the real tempo of the associations.
"You have to know how to fit into their schedule, not add pressure. The goal is to allow them to focus on the core of their work."
Time spent upfront, clarity gained
One of the key benefits of coaching is time management and reducing accountability-related stress. "Project leaders often spend more time reporting than implementing their projects. Our support helps rebalance this."
Quick responses, concrete tools, assistance with budget recalibration... all these elements reassure CSOs., but also their international partners, often waiting for clarity and method.
From mid-October to early December, 18 associations selected in stage 1 – on the Atlantic side – worked on producing a complete application file, based on an initiative note. They were able to benefit from new support that was both personalized (assistance in preparing the complete file) and collective (support for establishing partnerships and identifying co-financing).
This experience allowed for the emergence of a detailed reading of the field: varied themes (environment, culture, gender), but recurring blockages, such as the difficulty in deciphering a new language perceived as too technocratic, unforeseen calendars, cash flow gaps which require strong agility, particularly during the start-up phase. They were able to benefit from new support that was both personalized (assistance in preparing the complete file) And collective (support for establishing partnerships and identifying co-financing).
Regional cooperation: teaching through practice
“International solidarity is often thought of as a transfer, but in reality, it is an exchange.” Each project is a transformative tool for all stakeholders: partnerships between Guyanese and Brazilian project leaders illustrate this observation particularly well; indeed, they are often confronted with the same realities and needs in a similar socio-environmental context. Thanks to support, COREOM allows for experimentation, adjustments, and strengthening of the cooperation experience. It reveals gray areas, but also opportunities.
For the future: continuity and empowerment
For Damien Girou, support should not be a temporary luxury. It must enable associations to achieve a form of organizational and economic autonomy in the long term. This requires time, continuity, resource ecology, and less constrained timelines.
"The COREOM program has given us a much more concrete vision of the needs of the territory's CSOs. It has also highlighted the blockages between partners, the need for a balance in the distribution of resources for overseas associations, which have different specificities compared to their counterparts in mainland France. This feedback is essential for proposing structural improvements to systems such as COREOM."
– Damien Girou – Caribbean Emergence