Barcelona Provincial Council’s Next Diba Service receives the European “Good Practice Award” at the EPSA 2025-26 - Next diba

18/05/2026 08:35 h.

Barcelona Provincial Council’s Next Diba Service receives the European “Good Practice Award” at the EPSA 2025-26

The Next Diba Service receives European recognition for public sector innovation

The Next Diba Service – Support for EU Fundraising and Fund Management of the Barcelona Provincial Council has been awarded a “Good Practice Award” as part of the 10th edition of the European Public Sector Awards (EPSA), organised by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA).

Since 2009, EPSA has recognised the most innovative and transformative initiatives in the European public sector. Over the years, more than 1,600 projects from public institutions, administrations and international organisations across Europe have been submitted, making EPSA a key platform for sharing knowledge, good practices and innovative solutions in public governance.

The Barcelona Provincial Council’s project was recognised in the category “Delivering User-Centric Services at Subnational Level”, focused on citizen-oriented and place-based public services. A total of 36 projects from across Europe were submitted in this category.

The recognition follows a multi-stage evaluation process carried out by an independent European jury, including an initial technical assessment, interviews with shortlisted teams and a final consensus meeting among evaluators.

A comprehensive support model for local authorities

During the evaluation process, the Barcelona Provincial Council highlighted the distinctive value of the Next Diba Service as a comprehensive support model for local authorities in attracting and managing European funds.

The project emphasised the importance of strengthening the role of local governments in implementing European priorities and ensuring that no municipality is excluded from European funding opportunities, regardless of its size or technical capacity.

Among the aspects particularly valued by the European jury were:

• Coverage of the entire project life cycle, from identifying local needs to reporting and impact assessment.
• The capacity to coordinate and influence within multilevel governance spaces.
• The territorial impact of the service, which has supported 133 municipalities, 4 County councils and 212 projects, reaching 1.6 million citizens.
• The use of agile and innovative methodologies, including the integration of AI-based solutions to identify new funding opportunities.
• The development of a scalable and transferable model for other European public administrations.

The project also showcased several initiatives promoted by the Barcelona Provincial Council itself, including Blue Routes, focused on accessible cycling tourism; La Xarxa+, a local audiovisual content platform; and the deployment of a digital telecare service, among others.

The Barcelona Provincial Council considers this recognition a shared success with the local authorities that have trusted the Next Diba Service, as well as with the different departments of the institution that have worked side by side to promote transformative projects funded by European programmes.

This joint effort has strengthened the capacity of local governments to access European funds and advance towards a shared objective: ensuring that no municipality is left behind, regardless of its size or resources.

This European recognition also reinforces the Barcelona Provincial Council’s commitment to continue working on new European funding opportunities that contribute to transforming the territory and improving citizens’ quality of life.

A strategic service for local governments

The Next Diba Service was created at the end of 2020 following the launch of the NextGenerationEU funds, in response to the needs of local authorities facing the arrival of new European recovery instruments to address the COVID-19 crisis.

Since then, it has evolved into a specialised structure supporting the attraction and management of European funds, progressively expanding its scope beyond NextGenerationEU towards other shared management funds such as ERDF and the European Social Fund.

Today, the Next Diba Service supports local authorities throughout all stages of European projects and promotes capacity-building, institutional coordination and knowledge-sharing initiatives to strengthen local governments’ readiness for the challenges of the new European financial framework 2028-2034.

As a recipient of the “Good Practice Award”, the Next Diba Service has been invited to attend the official EPSA 2025-26 Award Ceremony, which will take place from 23 to 25 September 2026 in Maastricht (The Netherlands), where the final winners of each category will be announced and where the Barcelona Provincial Council will officially receive this recognition.

More information on the prizes here.