Support to the ASEM Dialogue Facility

The ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) Dialogue Facility is a European Union instrument to support the ASEM process. The programme is mainly focused on five sectors where the EU can contribute to the political dialogue and policy transfer. Under this 4th phase of the ASEM Dialogue Facility, the specific approach of the EU is to promote increased ownership of Asia ASEM developing countries and of civil society in the process.

A Transtec led consortium has been mandated to deliver Support to the ASEM Dialogue Facility.

As from December 2012, Transtec will be implementing the ASEM project with its partners Carlson Wagonlit Travel Belgium SPRL – CWT, Centre for European Policy Studies - CEPS and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

The specific purpose of the project is to enhance partnership between ASEM partners by contributing to the official ASEM process in a number of fields relevant to ASEM partners, and in particular to ASEM developing countries

The results are expected to include:
Constructive input provided to the strategic discussions at the global stage;

• Ownership and dialogue needs of developing countries in the ASEM process addressed;
• Interaction between the two components – the official (ASEM) and the non-governmental strengthened;
• Visibility of the ASEM process enhanced.

The project will be implemented mostly in the ASEM Partner countries by a team of 3 part-time technical assistants: Team Leader, Communication specialist and an Administrative assistant

  

The project activities will cover the following:

1. Organization of dialogue forums: These Dialogue forums will be held in different formats: meetings, conferences, workshops, seminars, lecture tours, or equivalent. They might be highly political – such as a Ministerial Conference – or of a more technical nature; and they will be organised on the identified themes and topics emerging from the ASEM process;
2. Undertake sectoral studies according to the needs;
3. Administrative Assistance to provide support to the Senior Officials and to the ASEM Coordinators in order to improve the ASEM coordination, track the ongoing and past ASEM activities, and to establish procedures for a more efficient ASEM coordination in a longer term. Such a coordination process will be designed especially so that all partners, Asian and European – large and small - developed and developing, have similar access to, and that would provide information to all;
4. Engagement of all stakeholders: the Technical Assistance Team (TAT) will enhance the dialogue participation of the Asian ASEM developing countries as well as of the civil society;
5. Visibility of the ASEM process: Another challenge for ASEM is to make the general public aware of ASEM process. The TAT will carry forward, coordinate, encourage, sustain and support this visibility function.

The outcome of this support is to pave the road for the ASEM 10 Summit to be held in Brussels at the end of 2014.

Regional Capacity Building Programme for Civil Society Facility South

Transtec, in consortium with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (DE), STEM-VCR (IT), Fundación CIDEAL (ES) and EPTISA (ES), has been mandated to implement the European Union funded programme “Regional Capacity Building Programme for Civil Society Facility South”. The programme beneficiary countries are the European Neighbourhood Policy South countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Tunisia and Syria 1 .  

The programme started officially on December 3rd, 2012 in Amman, where the Programme Management Unit is based.

The overall objective of the Civil Society Facility (CSF) is to increase the influence of civil society in the democratic configuration, both at national level and within the Southern Mediterranean region, and to stimulate a civil society-friendly 'environment' and culture. The objective of the CSF programme is to strengthen regional CSOs and to develop a sound network of CSOs within the region.

The purpose of the CSF programme is to strengthen the overall capacities and accountability of the civil society and facilitate their involvement so as to boost their contribution to the political and institutional framework. This implies reinforcing existing initiatives of support to CSOs in the Neighbourhood South, complemented with new elements, to make CSOs efforts in the ENP South region more visible and structured, thus increasing their involvement in the policy-dialogue at the partner country level.

The programme’s activities can be outlined under 5 components:

1. Mapping studies: launching, updating, and reinforcing national mappings in order to carry out a regional comprehensive mapping that will consist on consolidating the national mappings and analysing the aggregated data.
2. Capacity building activities: including technical and organisational aspects (project formulation, fundraising, financial management, etc.) as well as political issues (policy analysis, lobbying and advocacy, monitoring state performance and sectoral policies’ impact, reporting, building coalitions and networking).
3. Projects’ monitoring and guidance to organisations implementing the grants awarded through a Call for Proposals launched in the framework of the Facility.
4. Support to multi-stakeholders consultations on a demand driven basis to increase trust, complementarity and mutual accountability across stakeholders, including with the political society.
5. Recognition of Civil Society’s role through a sound communication strategy.

   

The CSF programme will reinforce Transtec’s leadership in implementing programmes in support to civil society and non-state actors. It will also constitute a unique opportunity to reaffirm its experience in the Mediterranean area following the Arab spring. The programme duration is of 3 years. The Technical Assistance team is composed of a Team Leader, a Project and Monitoring Manager and an Expert in Communication and Networking. Mobilization of short term expertise is also foreseen during the programme’s implementation.

1 EU Cooperation with Syria is currently suspended due to the political situation in the country; however, since in principle Syria is eligible for cooperation under the ENPI, activities may be taken up again once the situation improves.

Strengthening Service Delivery capacity of SACCOS in Tanzania

Transtec is assisting the Government of Tanzania through the provision of consultancy services to strengthen service delivery capacity of the “Savings and Credit Cooperatives” (SACCOS) in the 28 districts supported by the “Districts Agricultural Sector Investment Project” (DASIP). The SACCOS project has been launched on November 1st 2012 and is expected to last for 13 months.

 

SACCOS implementation runs with the DASIP project, whose implementation started in January 2006 and is expected to run till December 2013. DASIP is financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Tanzania (GoT), and covers a total of 28 districts in Kagera, Kigoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions. DASIP’s objective is to increase productivity and incomes of rural households in the project area within the overall framework of the country’s Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDP).

 

The overall objective of the SACCOS assignment is to build the capacity of SACCOS to provide improved services to their clients.

 

A Transtec team of 6 experts composed of a Team Leader and 5 rural finance development experts will work to achieve the project specific objectives which include:

• Building the entrepreneurial capabilities, managerial expertise and necessary technical skills of 84 SACCOS for efficient and effective operation;
• Providing technical backstopping to districts so as to enable them to oversee, monitor and regulate activities of SACCOS more effectively,
• Supporting districts to analyze data, prepare plans and generate appropriate activity progress reports in relation to SACCOSs development.

Transtec’s scope of work would include identification of training needs, preparation of training modules, developing training programs and training of regional and district cooperative officers and other stakeholders in districts supported by DASIP. The team will also seek to facilitate formation of institutional linkages between SACCOSs, Agricultural Marketing Groups, Producer Farmer Groups and other stakeholders. Technical support to districts and SACCOSs at duration and intervals as agreed in the contract for this assignment will be provided.

 

 

Technical assistance to Sector Support in Mozambique

The European Union is supporting the government of Mozambique in the implementation of the Public Financial Management Sector Policy Support Programme (PFMSPS). Within this context, Transtec is providing its services and support for the technical assistance component of this programme.


The overall objective of the Sector Policy programme is to support Mozambique in strengthening Public Financial Management throughout Government, in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in revenue collection and in planning and execution of policies and budget, as well as to increase transparency and accountability.


Ministry of Finance


The specific purpose of the technical assistance component of the PFMSPs Programme is to support the PFM policy development capacity of the government of Mozambique and to strengthen the management capacity within the key institutions supported by the Programme, namely CEDSIF and Tribunal Administrativo. These institutions' capacity to manage grant funding received from the EU as well as their internal management capacity will be strengthened by this technical assistance.

The Technical Assistance under the PFMSPS Programme for Mozambique will be provided over a period of 3.5 years.

For the execution of its services, Transtec is providing a team of high-level experts: a Team Leader and senior PFM expert , a resident expert to support CEDSIF and a resident expert to support Tribunal Administrativo . Additionally, engagement of some short term expertise is foreseen to support the implementation of the programme activities.

Lessons Learned from Evaluating 70 Governance Projects




Transtec recently participated in the European Evaluation Society Conference, Helsinki (3-5 October 2012). With more than 275 thought-provoking presentations on as many topics delivered in just three days, it was almost evaluation overload!

Mr Landis MacKellar (Team Leader of the Provision for Post Project evaluations for the United Nations Democracy Fund) presented ‘Lessons learned from a unique database of governance projects’ evaluation’, a synopsis of thoughts from evaluating 70 evaluations for the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in 57 countries.

Mr MacKellar looked at findings at project and programme level and evaluation methodology. He extracted a few lessons learned of value for donors and other evaluators.

For example, Mr MacKellar said that the evaluation reports systematic and strict frame were a strong asset; so was the frequency and regularity of the exercise, its inclusiveness of project beneficiaries, accessibility to readers and its public scope for use and dissemination.

The powerpoint presentation can be downloaded here.

25 high-level observers attended from the EU, CEC, OECD, NORAD and other consulting companies. The Q&A session that followed was particularly interesting. The Council of Europe (CEC) asked how the UNDEF evaluation approach compared with the EU’s Results-Oriented Monitoring project (ROM) and if it could be an approach that could replace ROM. There were also questions about how this approach could add value to an organisation and governance-related issues, i.e. how governance programs can be better structured. The audience observed that this project and methodology introduced a new level of accountability for UNDEF.

Evaluation: Accountancy or Laser Surgery!

In some circles, evaluation may have a similar reputation as accountancy: a little bit dull, but necessary. Reveal you’re a Monitoring and Evaluation expert at a dinner party and prepare for the yawns!

At Transtec, we’d prefer to think of evaluation as less like number crunching and more akin to laser surgery: getting quickly to the heart of issues, skilfully cutting away dead tissue and revealing what really needs to be fixed.

Over the past years, Transtec has delivered more than 450 evaluations to clients such as UN agencies (UNRWA, UNDEF, etc.), International Financial Institutions (WB, AfDB) European institutions (ECHO, DEVCO, Bank of the Council of Europe etc.) and National authorities (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belgium Development Agency, etc.).

We believe that good evaluation should contribute to better development outcomes. It should reveal where things went wrong, what was successful and help programme designers and managers both plan better and fix things when they go wrong.

Transtec has recently employed Mr Helge Rieper as Head of its expanding Monitoring and Evaluation Practice.

Helge is a Senior M&E expert with more than 17 years of international experience, in more than 30 countries, including at Chief of Section level, UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to the General Secretary, Inspection and Evaluation Division (IED), New York.

He has extensive experience in designing, implementing and analysing large and complex M&E systems and frameworks including Basket and Multi Donor Trust Funds, Country Programmes and Strategies, Gender and Governance analysis.

He is fully conversant with international M&E modalities, including Impact Evaluations, Results Based Management (RBM) and Results Oriented Monitoring (ROM) with a variety of international institutions including the European Commission, the World Bank (WB), European Investment Bank (EIB), and Agence Francaise de Development (AFD).

His sectoral knowledge includes: Public administration management; Programme management; Anti-corruption & fraud; Conflict management & mitigation; Inspection & Investigation; Gender; Good Governance; Disaster management; Local governance and decentralization; Socio-economic surveys; Participatory methods; International and local development funds.

Helge is responsible for leading Transtec’s M&E offering, deepening its approach and establishing a network of senior M&E experts who are able to offer clients innovative approaches based on solid experience.

Helge could be reached on hrieper[at]transtec[dot]be or  +32 2 266 4950.

Towards a Green Economy in Vietnam

TRANSTEC has been recently awarded a BTC (Belgian development agency) funded mission "Formulation of the programme “Establishing the green economy support facility for Vietnam” for which two Experts were mobilised: Expert in Green Economy and Expert in Institutional and organisational strengthening.

The main objective of their mission was to validate and complement the existing identification fiche in order to formulate a comprehensive intervention strategy and mechanism and prepare the technical and financial file (TFF) and the formulation report (FR) of the Green Economy Support Facility (GESF) project.

The formulation mission had three main objectives:

• Analyse the national policies related to Climate Change and Green Economy in Vietnam, identify the strong and weak points, the opportunities and constraints and define how the GESF may contribute to these national long-term strategies with a special attention to the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy Framework for the period 2011-2020 and vision to 2050;
• Identify the different stakeholders of the future GESF and the mechanisms of management and coordination;
• Pay a special and in-depth attention to cross-cutting issues and in particular to gender and environment in the activities supported and implemented through the facility mechanism.

The mission team started by assessing the current status of green economy / green growth in Vietnam on the basis of existing documents (including the latest available draft of the green grow strategy prepared by MPI), statistics and interviews. Subsequently, the team identified several barriers and constraints that hinder Vietnam’s path towards green economy and green growth, and identified several actions that could address these barriers.

Having laid this groundwork, the mission team then started to formulate concrete mechanisms to get feedback from the various partners, to arrive at a more definitive intervention model which is included below. This was done through a series of PowerPoints that increasingly incorporated new insights over time.

The main findings of the mission were presented to BTC on 23 May 2012 and the report has been submitted for approval.

Learn more on this project through the BTC website directly.

Transtec to provide Services to support ETF project activities in Lebanon



Transtec has been awarded a new framework contract with the European Training Foundation (ETF) aimed at supporting its project activities in Lebanon.


Meetings, seminars and workshops
will be organised

The ETF is an agency of the European Union based in Turin, Italy. It works with transition and developing countries to apply human resource development (HRD) strategies to socio-economic development. As the EU’s centre of expertise ETF supports education and training reform in the context of the EU external relations programmes.

Two main types of services will be provided :

1. Organisation of project meetings such as workshops and seminars in Lebanon;
2. Support to ETF country networking (support to the organisation of ETF missions in Lebanon including organisation of bilateral meetings with Lebanese counterparts and translation of documents and working papers with technical specialised terminology for events and workshops).

The project is to start mid-June 2012 for a duration of 4 years.

Transtec Evaluation News



NONIE 2012 meeting

Transtec Evaluation Unit attended the Network of Networks for Impact Evaluation (NONIE) meeting in Rome end of April 2012. This 6th edition of NONIE was organised by the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) and gathered eminent speakers and participants to brainstorm on evaluation best practices and challenges such as attributing results, ascertaining contributions, applying inclusive and multi approaches, modeling systems for quantitative and qualitative data analysis,etc.



Transtec is constantly looking for best practices and sharing of experiences.

As manager of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) Post-Projects Evaluation, we are welcoming opportunities, such as NONIE meeting, to analyze and compare experiences and techniques applied by other UN agencies/funds.

The UNDEF Post-Projects Evaluation has now evaluated 60 country projects worldwide. The analysis and conclusions withdrawn enabled to launch the first meta-evaluation on Media and Press Freedom in March 2012. As all country evaluation reports, meta-evaluation will be published on UNDEF website.

Transtec Evaluation Unit will attend the European Evaluation Society Biennal Conference in Helsinki in October 2012 to keep feeding the debate.

For any queries related to Evaluation, please contact Mrs. Ferreira. For queries on potential assignments and CV registration in our roster, contact the Human Talents Departement.

To read more about UNDEF and Transtec cooperation:
"Contract launching in New York", June 2010,
"Mid-term Review in summer 2011".

EU Election Observation Missions: Launching the renewal of the service contract to support EU EOMs

In the last three years Transtec has successfully implemented no less than seven EU-Elections Observation Missions (EU-EOMs): Malawi and Mozambique (2009), Togo, Burundi and Tanzania (2010), Nigeria and Zambia (2011).

The service for Foreign Policy Instrument (FPI) of the EEAS (European External Action Services) now wishes to renew the service contract for provision of support to EU-EOMs (service contract forecast notice “EIDHR — 2012/S 40-063593 framework contract (FWC) for support to EU election observation missions”). The forecast notice has been published in February 2012.

In this context, Transtec is recruiting a panel of highly qualified experienced experts to be proposed to carry out future assignments under this new EOM FWC contract. More specifically, we are currently compiling a panel of experts which covers the fields related to the EOMs’ scope of services: Project Management (Europe), Project Management (in EOM country), Logistics and Operations, Security, Finance and Contracts and Information Technology.

The service procurement notice for this contract forecast is expected to be published in April 2012 and the tender dossier is foreseen to be published somewhere in June 2012.

Experts interested to cooperate with us on this tender can update or register their profile in the Transtec database via our website, submit their application to this tender via this online process and contact directly our focal point Pierre-Paul Antheunissens at ppa@transtec.be (Direct line +32 (0)2 266 49 95).

Developing Investments and International Agreements in Iraq

Transtec has just been awarded two contracts in Iraq. The first is an EU project on “Capacity building of Iraqi Officials for the Negotiation and Implementation of International Agreements”, and the second is a UNIDO contract for “Enhancing investments to Iraq through industrial zones development: Completion of a mapping and analysis of existing industrial zones in Iraq”.

Baghdad, Iraq

The objective of the EU project “Capacity building of Iraqi Officials for the Negotiation and Implementation of International Agreements” is to build the capacity of the Government Institutions to manage and implement international treaties, by contributing to the objective of regional and international cooperation and integration. The purpose of the technical assistance contract is to assist in building the capacity of the Iraqi Government for the negotiation and understanding of the context, impact and consequences of international agreements. The project will provide the Government of Iraq with the means to prepare and train the personnel in charge of negotiation and implementation of international agreements. The project will start in April for a 22 months period. The Technical Assistance team will be composed by a Team Leader and Short Term expertise.

The UNIDO project “Completion of a mapping and analysis of existing industrial zones” is in line with the UNIDO past achievements and ongoing initiatives in Iraq. The project's immediate objectives are to promote investment and to support the growth of the private sector through the development of industrial zones. At the upstream level UNIDO's initiative aspires to assist the Government of Iraq in reactivating economic life, creating an enabling business environment for international and local investors, and opening avenues for industrial development and economic diversification over the long run. The project will start by the end of March for a 3 months period.

The provision of advisory services to the Community Skills Development Foundation (COSDEF)

Transtec has been awarded by the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (“MCA Namibia”), the contract to provide advisory services to the Community Skills Development Foundation (COSDEF) in developing and implementing a strategic plan.

The implementation period is of 28 months. Two long term experts have strated working on this project since the 9th of January 2012.


Namibia Community Skills Development Foundation

The objective of this assignment is to develop and implement a strategic plan towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the COSDEF operations. The implementation component will include the participatory activation of an operational management structure for the Foundation, COSDEFs and SME Centres, while the training support systems will be enhanced through curriculum development, staff training and regulatory compliance.

The Consultants will support the COSDEF in establishing a strategic framework for the Foundation and the Centres, which will include the following areas:

• Strategic Planning of the COSDEF and each of the COSDECs and SME Centres;
• Operational management structure for the COSDECs; and
• Enhancement of Training Support Systems.

 Various deliverables will be provided wthin the project implementation. These fall within the project three assigned tasks which are. 

1. Strategic Planning of the COSDEF and each of the COSDECs and SME Centres; 
2. Operational management structure for the COSDECs;
3. Enhancement of Training Support Systems.

Fiscalité, Démarrage de la campagne de sensibilisation du nouveau code des impôts

Daté du 08 12 2011

La campagne d’information et de sensibilisation du nouveau code général des impôts a démarré hier pour quinze jours. Le coup d’envoi a été donné par le directeur général des impôts, Ahamada Moussa (Abi), à l’issue d’une cérémonie officielle de présentation du texte, organisée à Moroni.

Promulgué en juillet dernier, le nouveau code des impôts dont les travaux d’élaboration ont été financés par la Banque africaine de développement (BAD) à travers le Projet de renforcement des capacités institutionnelles (PRCI), présente deux grandes nouveautés : la création de l’Impôt des sociétés (IS) en lieu et place de l’Impôt sur les bénéfices et les dividendes (IBD) pour les personnes morales. L’autre nouveauté est la création de l’impôt sur les revenus de personnes physiques (IRPP).

Il s’agit d’une «révolution», d’après M. Moussa qui s’est félicité «de la qualité du travail» réalisé par les experts de la firme Transtec, retenue par la BAD pour appuyer le processus de modernisation de l’administration financière. Un livre de procédures fiscales et une charte du contribuable (droit et devoirs) ont été annexés au nouveau texte.

«L’avantage du nouveau code est la réduction du taux d’imposition qui doit varier dorénavant entre 0 et 35%, en fonction de revenus», souligne Ahmed Djaffar, administrateur des impôts et conseiller technique à la direction générale, précisant que le nouveau code est beaucoup plus attractif que le précédent.

«Le nouveau code encouragera les hommes d’affaires locaux à investir et les investisseurs étrangers à s’intéresser aux îles». La journée d’hier a été dédiée aux chefs des services et agents de l’administration fiscale. La séance d’aujourd’hui est consacrée aux hommes d’affaires et chefs d’entreprises.

«C’est un code innovateur, un bon outil de gestion en matière d’imposition, cela réduit les nombreuses déclarations, on a un impôt unique», dit, pour sa part, Boubacar Sonko, expert-juriste-fiscaliste de la Transtec. L’ancien code des impôts datait des années 1980.

A.S.Kemba
Albalad Comores, Edition N°649, page 9
http://blog.albaladcomores.com/?p=4167

Démarrage du Projet Renforcement des Capacités Institutionnelles en Union des Comores

Transtec est attributaire du marché de contrat de prestation de services signé avec le Projet de Renforcement des Capacités Institutionnelles en Union des Comores pour l’Appui à la Direction générale des impôts pour la poursuite de la mise en œuvre du système fiscal dont son informatisation.

L’objectif général est d’apporter un appui technique aux autorités comoriennes dans le cadre de sa réforme de la gestion fiscale et en particulier la Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI). Il est attendu à ce titre :

• Un appui dans la mise en œuvre des actions de la réformes fiscale ;
• Des propositions d’amélioration du fonctionnement de la DGI, en terme d’organisation et de communication;
• Une participation à la rédaction de cahier des charges permettant à terme l’informatisation de la DGI.
• Des formations des agents des impôts aux règles fiscales issues du nouveau Code général des impôts;
• La conception de l’ensemble des modèles d’imprimés fiscaux à destination des contribuables.

Les objectifs particuliers sont :

1. Appui technique administratif à la Direction Générale des Impôts
2. Assistance à la rédaction du cahier des charges pour l’informatisation de la Direction Générale des Impôts
3. Création de modèles de déclarations fiscales
4. Formation fiscale sur la base du nouveau Code général des impôts

Le programme se déroulera de septembre 2011 à mars 2013. Il s’agit d’une assistance technique composée de 4 experts: un chargé de projet, un fiscaliste inspecteur des impôts, un juriste fiscaliste et un spécialiste en système d’informatisation.

Clôture du Programme d’appui aux actions de la CEEAC en matière de Paix et de Sécurité (PAPS)

Le PAPS a appuyé le développement des capacités civiles et de police de la FOMAC

Le PAPS, un programme qui été mis en œuvre par l’assistance technique de Transtec S.A, GRIP et ECDPM, a pris fin le 31 octobre 2011. Le programme qui s’est déroulé sur 4 ans et demi a été financé su les ressources du 9e FED.

L’objectif de l’assistance technique est de développer la capacité et l’efficacité de la CEEAC en matière de prévention des conflits afin de renforcer la paix, d’augmenter l’implication des Etats Membres de la CEEAC et d’accroître sa visibilité politique.
Ce programme a été mené avec détermination par une Assistance technique internationale restreinte (un Chef de projet plein temps et un expert en renforcement de la société civile dont la fonction s’est achevée en aout 2009).
Des résultats concrets ont été observés:

• Plus de 24 missions ont été réalisées dans les divers domaines de la Paix et de la Sécurité: séminaire de formation à l'alerte rapide, Recensement des OSC actives dans la région CEEAC, sécurité transfrontalière, prolifération des amres légères, gouvernance du secteur de la sécurité, état des lieux CEEAC - états membres, réunion minsitérielle sur les élections, le rôle de la presse en période électorale, séminaire sur le processus électoral, etc.
• Grâce à des formations et des activités transversales, le PAPS a contribué à impulser une dynamique globale de changement dans le fonctionnement du Siège de la CEEAC dans deux directions : meilleure planification des activités, collaboration inter-Départements. Ses efforts pour impliquer les Etats membres ont également porté par des activités à impact direct (étude sur le Comité des Ambassadeurs) ou à forte visibilité (séminaire sur la réforme des secteurs de la sécurité (RSS) tenu à Kinshasa en janvier 2009).
• Le PAPS a aidé à mettre sur pied et à orienter le Mécanisme d’alerte rapide de l’Afrique Centrale (MARAC), dont les premières analyses ont pu être produites dès mai 2008, éclairant les instances décisionnelles de la CEEAC sur les risques et les causes de conflits dans la région. Grâce à un investissement du PAPS dépassant les 600.000 €, le MARAC est aujourd’hui doté d’un système de communication performant qui augmente sa capacité de recueil de l’information et il dispose d’un réseau de correspondants décentralisés, en place dans 5 des 10 Etats membres. Grâce au PAPS également, le MARAC a pu mobiliser l’expertise de partenaires extérieurs (Institut d’Etudes de Sécurité d’Afrique du Sud, Union africaine) pour se doter d’un plan de développement clair incluant son organigramme, ses outils méthodologique de collecte et d’analyse de l’information et les besoins de son centre de situation..
• Le PAPS a permis l'identification et la validation par les Etats membres de politiques propres à permettre à la CEEAC d’avoir un impact structurel à long terme sur les causes profondes de conflit dans la sous-région : sécurité transfrontalière (Programme Frontière), gouvernance des secteurs de la sécurité, armes légères et de petit calibre (ALPC), et élections.

Au cours des 4 ans écoulés, le PAPS a également fait un travail de fond avec les personnels nouvellement recrutés du DIHPSS pour les aider à concevoir et mettre en place des politiques structurelles propre à prévenir les conflits dans la région de l’Afrique Centrale. Ainsi un Programme Frontière basé sur des données d’enquêtes conduites sur 6 zones pilotes de la sous-région a-t-il été conçu et approuvé par les Chefs d’Etat. S’inscrivant dans le Programme Frontière de l’Union africaine le « PF-CEEAC » met l’accent sur la prévention de l’insécurité transfrontalière, véritable fléau dans la sous-région et qui handicape l’intégration régionale. Le montage du PF-CEEAC a en outre été utilisé comme support méthodologique pour former les cadres du Secrétariat général, tous Départements confondus, à la mise en œuvre de la planification par objectifs et la gestion axée sur des résultats.

Convaincu que l’intégration régionale ne sera réelle que si elle est portée, non seulement par les autorités, mais aussi par les populations, le PAPS a travaillé à rapprocher la CEEAC de la société civile et à appuyer le développement de celle-ci. Trois projets ont ainsi été financés pour un montant de 185.000€ ; ils visent à l’actualisation de la législation sur les armes (Cameroun), l’éducation citoyenne (Burundi) et la réconciliation en zone frontalière (Est de la RDC). Grâce au travail d’identification et de contact avec la société civile menée avec l’appui du PAPS, la CEEAC dispose aujourd’hui d’une visibilité accrue parmi les organisations non-gouvernementales de la sous-région, dont beaucoup sont prêtes à lui apporter leur concours.

Implementation of ECOWAS common Trade Policy

Transtec has been awarded by the Project Management Unit for the Trade.Com Facility Program, the contract for the Implementation of the ECOWAS Common Trade Policy (ECTP).

The general objective of this three months long project is to promote sustainable development and to contribute to poverty eradication in the ACP through regional integration and their smooth and gradual integration into the world economy.

The project purposes are to:

• contribute to the achievement of the goals of ECOWAS Vision 2020 through the operationalisation of the ECOWAS Common Trade Policy;
• assist ECOWAS officials in the detection, mapping and analysis of informal trade networks within the Community; and
• produce a study on the strategies and mechanisms available to ECOWAS authorities for the mainstreaming of informal trade flows and for the diminution/elimination of the negative effects of informal trade on the regional integration efforts of the Community.
• develop a policy framework for the regulation of informal trade in the region and to propose a regulatory platform on which the Commission can build on initiatives involving the largest informal trade sectors.

The concrete outputs to be produced by the team of experts are the following:

• Preparation of a detailed study which (i) summarizes the current state of affairs in regards to informal trade within the ECOWAS Community; (ii) analyses its causes and effects on the regional common market; and (iii) outlines strategies and mechanisms available to ECOWAS authorities for the mainstreaming of informal trade networks and for the diminution/elimination of its negative consequences on the regional integration efforts of the Community;
• Development of a policy framework for the regulation of informal trade in the region and to design a regulatory platform on which the Commission can build on initiatives involving the largest informal trade sectors.
• Organisation of one workshop/seminar for 40-50 regional and national stakeholders designed to (i) brief participants on the findings of the Consultant’s study; and (ii) enhance the technical skills of ECOWAS authorities in the detection and mainstreaming/elimination of informal trade channels.

The project will be implemented in Abuja, Nigeria – with short missions in ECOWAS Member States - for a duration of 3 months.

Successful implementation of the EU Election Observation Mission in Zambia

TRANSTEC has recently implemented successfully the Election Observation Mission in Zambia, which was funded by the European Union. It was the 7th mission of Transtec in the field of electoral observation, after Mozambique, Malawi, Togo, Nigeria, Tanzania and Burundi.

The EU EOM to the Republic of Zambia was composed of:

• A Chief Observer selected and contracted by the European Commission (EC);
• A Core Team of 8 experts identified by the European Commission;
• 24 Long-Term Observers (LTO) proposed by the EU Member States (MS), selected by the EC;
• 56 Short-Term Observers (STO), proposed by the EU MS, selected by the EC;
• Locally recruited Short Term Observers (LSTOs) identified and contracted by foreign Embassies;
• A Service Provider team composed of 4 key-experts and 4 non-key experts (ITC Expert, Contract/Finance Expert, Deputy Operations/Logistics and Deputy Security Expert);
• Local support staff;
• A dedicated team in Europe working under the responsibility of the in-country PM.

The main objectives of the EOM Zambia were: to provide support to strengthen democratisation, good governance and conflict prevention; to contribute to reducing the possibility of fraud, manipulation, intimidation, etc. which could undermine the electoral process, to improve the legal framework and conduct of future elections, as well as public confidence in the institutions; and to inform the European institutions on the conduct of elections in selected third countries.

All objectives have been successfully achieved and no major incidents were reported by the EOM Zambia neither on the day of the elections nor later during the consecutive weeks.

The Chief Observer, the Deputy Chief Observer and the Press and Public Outreach Officer will return to Zambia early December 2011 to present the final EU EOM report to national authorities, international community and the media.

The start-up of EU - Indonesia Trade Support Programme TSP II

TRANSTEC has been awarded the contract for the implementation of the EU-funded TSP II Project in Indonesia (EU - Indonesia Trade Support Programme).
The kick off meeting took place in Jakarta on the 6th September 2011. The Key Experts together with the representatives of Transtec met with the EU Delegation and with the Ministry of Trade to discuss the first actions to be undertaken on this Project and to define the priorities for the inception period.

The Key Experts will now be focusing on identifying the needs of their counterpart - ministries and based on that, the first operational programme estimate will be drafted beginning of December.

The Project's main objective will be to to facilitate a further integration of Indonesia into the international trade system and this encompassess the following specific objectives:

1. Improve co-ordination and transparency in the process for formulation and implementation of trade policy related to export development
2. Upgrade the quality infrastructure that supports Indonesia's access to international markets

TSP II has two components which are:

1. Component I: Policy Development: will pursue a cohesive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the strengthening of the overall Export Quality Infrastructure (EQI) system. It will support a MoT-led process to further strengthen export development and the specific role of EQI.
2. Component II: Institutional strengthening: the Component will provide technical assistance to the range of government institutions engaged on EQI and related activities.

TSP II is designed to be operational for 38 months and will be run by 4 Key Experts: Team Leader; Senior Standardisation/Accreditation Expert; Testing and conformity assessment expert and Food Quality and Safety (SPS) Expert. The contract foresees quite a big input of short-term Experts in the Project (roughly 9.000 working days to be distributed for short-term assignments) and those are being mobilised already now for the inception Phase of TSP II.

Trade Enhancement Programme (TEP-A), Egypt

Egypt’s largest trading partner is the EU, and Egyptian trade with the EU is likely to increase further as a consequence of the Association Agreement between Egypt and the EU (the EEAA), signed in June 2001. The trade aspects of this Agreement have entered into force on January 2004. However, the lack of competitiveness and legacy of protection is a major issue and challenge to the Egyptian manufacturing sector which represents 20% of Egypt’s GDP, but only exports 6% of its output. Therefore in order to support Egypt’s implementation of the Association Agreement (and reduce the constraints for Egyptian industries) the EC agreed to finance a Trade Enhancement Programme (M€ 66).


The Trade Enhancement Programme (TEP-A) was awarded to Transtec through an open tender process and successfully run from September 2004 till December 2007. The project’s objective was to increase the capacity of the Ministry of foreign Trade and Industry by providing support and facilities to exporters and others engaged in foreign trade as well as to foreign businessmen wishing to invest in Egypt.

A total of 38.5 months, 3 long term expert, 496 senior experts, and 66 million Euros were mobilised and managed by Transtec for the execution of this project. Three years later, at the end of the project implementation, the project work plan was fully realised and additional activities and resulting outcomes implemented. The influence of the private sector in the implementation is a good prospect. Trade flow between EU and Egypt has increased steadily from 2004 to 2007 and the last annual report from the World Bank shows very good results, as Egypt is ranked first of the developing countries.

Egypt’s high economic performance, and in particular in international trade as from 2004, is probably due for a part to the economic reforms in which TEP was involved.

Furthermore, many achievements have been performed during this period where the Egyptian GDP growth was sustained: GDP grew over 7% in 2007, compared to 6.9% in 2006; export is thus increasing very regularly. The European Union is the first trading partner and the first source of FDI of Egypt. The competitiveness of Egyptian enterprises has increased, Employment is growing notably in export industries and finally the number of companies regularly exporting is increasing.

The Suriname NGO Institutional Strengthening Programme reached its end on 30 June 2011

Suriname NGO Institutional
Strengthening Programme

The Suriname NGO Institutional Strengthening Programme was funded by the European Union and was implemented over 3 years, reaching its end on 30 June 2011. Although the implementation was quite challenging, the SNIS PMU under leadership of the Project Manager, successfully achieved the following results:

• successfully conducted the NGO mapping and the development of the first comprehensive NGO database;
• initiated the first NGO National Training and Resource Centre;
• raised NGO awareness concerning their need to strengthen their institutional setting;
• implemented an NGO Train the Trainers programme;
• trained NGOs in key managerial areas with the aim to strengthen their administrative management and project proposal writing skills;
• raised public awareness on NGOs contribution to development, as well as the awareness for the establishment and institutionalization of a National NGO Advisory Board;
• produced (and established broad acceptance of) a NGO legal position paper in order to further accommodate the path toward structural dialogue between the NGO sector and the Government of Suriname on development issues.

 

The aims of the SNIS Programme were of utmost importance for the NGO sector in Suriname. To reduce poverty in a sustainable way the Position Paper and the NGO Database should be used as instruments to realize the aims as described in the SNIS Programme. The sustainability and further development of these achievements is now in the hands of the Government of Suriname and the NGO sector.