Description
The Government has a brief yet intense experience in donor development assistance, mobilizing and implementing diverse sources and types of external multilateral and bilateral funds. The country receives substantial amount of aid each year, including an increasing amount of EU pre-accession assistance. Using this aid effectively and with better results will be crucial in helping the country to get ready for EU accession and improving living standards of its population. Increasing the effectiveness of aid is particularly important in the context of the unfolding global economic crisis and the increasing difficulty in attracting foreign financing. Changing conditions of aid and the development course around the requirements of the EU accession process have enforced the Government, in partnership with the international community, to put continuous efforts to improve and strengthen the National System’s role in the coordination of the foreign assistance.
Objective
The overall strategy for the fourth phase of the “Capacity Building for Aid Coordination” project is to consolidate and streamline the national system for coordination of foreign assistance, foster implementation of good aid management practices and introduce a system for regular monitoring the indicators on aid effectiveness set up with the Paris Declaration. It focuses on streamlining development assistance management and making it more aligned, harmonized, transparent, accountable and efficient. Creation of an efficient national institutional structure, as well as a network of highly professional and trained employees with expertise in aid coordination is the key objective of the project along with the necessity to develop practice of long term strategic planning.
Interim Results
In June 2009, the Secretariat for European Affairs introduced the Programme Based Approach (PBA) with the purpose to promote a more holistic approach to development assistance, improve national leadership and alignment with Government owned strategies, but also to enhance the partnership among development actors. This approach was introduced for the five programme areas that have been considered crucial for country development and where coordinated donor approach is mostly needed: Business Environment, Human Capital, Agriculture, Environment, and Good Governance. Suitable institutional structure for implementation of the PBA and basic principles were established and agreed between the Government and the donor community.
PBA concept is a veritable indicator for the ownership role of the Government in the coordination and streamlining of the national and external funds for the realization of the defined strategic goals and priorities of the country. With the realization of this model, a huge step is being made towards strengthened ownership, improved aid effectiveness, increased practice of comprehensive and midterm strategic planning of the development assistance and towards ensuring greater aid effectiveness and progress in meeting the global principles of the Paris Declaration.
Partnerships
This is a National Executed Project, which provides direct assistance to the key national structures responsible for coordination of foreign assistance, the National Aid Coordinator, the Secretariat for European Affairs and the following ministries, which are the implementing partners of the project:
Ministry of Transport and Communication
Ministry of Local Self-Government
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy
Ministry of Education and Science
Project team members
Antoneta Manova- Stavreska
Project Manager
Phone: (02) 3200259
е-mail: antoneta.stavreska@undp.org
Cilkovski Mite
Project Assistant
Phone: (02) 3200259
е-mail: mite.cilkovski@sep.gov.mk
Milena Arsova
Monitoring Analysis and Policy Support Officer in the Secretariat for European Affairs
Phone: (02) 3200259
e-mail: milena.arsova@sep.gov.mk
Aleksandra Seizova
Monitoring Analysis and Policy Support Officer in the Secretariat for European Affairs
Phone:(02) 3200259
e-mail: aleksandra.seizova@sep.gov.mk
Goce Markoski
Monitoring Analysis and Policy Support Officer
in the Ministry of Transport and Communications
