Too much reliance on international cooperation donors can hamper the economic sustainability of the pole and increase its vulnerability in case of political changes.

Coping strategy: Diversify funding and opt for mixed economic model

Ensuring the financial sustainability of the CitESS pole is crucial and should be considered and debated since the initial consultation process. It is fundamental to diversify funding and avoid relying only on public financing and international cooperation Donors. For this reason, a CitESS pole needs to rely on a more viable and mixed economic model. One solution is to develop and offer support services which are attractive to clients (i.e. SSE actors, public or private actors) in order to guarantee a self-financing channel. However, this depends also on the type of organization in which the CitESS is formalized.