Seminar How to Set-up and Implement a Successful Twinning Project in EU Candidate, Potential Candidate and Neighbouring countries Warsaw (PL), 12 -13 November 2009 OBJECTIVES/TARGET GROUP/METHOD Objectives: Among the many cooperation mechanisms developed by the European Union, the Twinning project has been one of most extensively and successfully applied over the past ten years. It is to assist beneficiary countries in the institution-building process on their way towards EU accession and full adoption of the acquis communautaire. Employed in the framework of Poland and Hungary Assistance for Reconstructing their Economies (PHARE), Transition Facility and more recently under the Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS) programmes, Twinning projects in beneficiary countries have contributed to the development of efficient administrations reaching the same standards as the Member States in the following areas: Agriculture and Fisheries, Environment, Structural Funds, Consensus and Social Policy, Public Finance and Internal Market, Justice and Home Affairs, Transport, Energy and Telecom, and Standardisation. Twinning is currently a broadly applied institution building instrument in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries allowing for the approximation of the acquis and implementation of EU good practices under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI). Selected areas as well as agreed objectives and guaranteed results are always project specific and stem directly from the Accession Partnerships or Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) & European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Action Plans. Therefore, the change achieved in beneficiary countries concerning, among others, organisation structures, legislation, management skills and human resources, is conducive to the implementation of a related part of the acquis or good EU practices. The seminar will: • Carefully present and screen the whole process that a successful Twinning project must undergo, including: project identification and drafting of the Twinning Fiche, selection of proposals, preparation of a Twinning contract, project implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation; • Describe and analyse the roles and tasks assigned in the process to beneficiary country administration officials; • Concentrate on potential risks and pitfalls that can be encountered, and provide practical and effective ways to avoid or deal with these. The seminar will draw on several real life examples referring to numerous Twinning projects carried out in the past, and provide the most upto-date information about specific conditions and requirements. The participants will be actively involved, solving practical problems and discussing the seminar issues. They will be encouraged to share their views and professional experience with one another. The objectives of the seminar are threefold: (1) to bring together public officers and/or twinning project managers from EU Member States, Candidate, Potential Candidate and ENP countries so that they can share their knowledge and practical experiences they have gained, identify essential cooperation issues and extend their network; (2) to achieve in-depth understanding of all components of the process of preparation and implementation of a Twinning project; (3) to discuss and analyse from the practical point of view the main opportunities and challenges of the Twinning project as an effective cooperation tool within the context of the EU integration process. Target Group: The seminar is intended for public officers and current or prospect twinning project managers from the new EU Member States, Candidate and Neighbourhood Countries, who have been or expect to be involved in Twinning projects, and would like to enhance their knowledge about this cooperation mechanism and improve the skills required for successful preparation and implementation of projects. It should be of interest to those who are involved in one or more of the following activities: identifying areas that a Twinning project is to cover, drafting project fiche, proposal selection procedure, drawing up a Twinning contract, project implementation, monitoring, reporting and evaluation. Description and Method: This two-day seminar will be run by Pawel P. Mlicki, Ph.D – Dutch/Polish Senior Expert who worked as a Short-Term Expert on several Twinning projects carried out in a number of beneficiary countries (both new Member States and Candidate Countries), and twice as a Resident Twinning Advisor; Ms Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz – currently the Head of Unit for Ukraine in the Department for Institution Building Programmes in the Polish Office of the Committee for European Integration. Previously she was involved in the preparation and implementation of 18 Twinning projects for the Polish Ministry of the Interior and Administration, as the BC Project Leader and SPO; and Mr Eric Tonon, Independent Expert, former Twinning Coordinator at the European Commission Delegation and Team Leader of the EU funded project “Implementation of Twinning and TAIEX Operations in Azerbaijan”. The experts will give a thorough introduction into the concept of the Twinning project, provide the status quo regarding specific conditions and requirements set by the European Commission, and will go through all successive components of the process with a focus on potential risks and ways to address these. Each subject will be explained through a short theoretical presentation, illustrated by real life examples, which will be followed by sub-group work. The course will be highly interactive, and delegates will be encouraged to share experiences and ask practical questions as much as possible. Lessons learnt from implementation of previous projects will be drawn for successful realisation of new projects. The language for the seminar will be English. PROGRAMME THURSDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 09.00 – 09.15 REGISTRATION 15.45 – 16.00 Coffee break 09.15 – 09.30 Welcome Sławomir Żałobka – Director, European Institute of Public Administration – European Centre for Public Financial Management 16.00 – 17.00 Preparation for the project implementation ■ Who can and should be a BC Project Leader, Senior Project Officer (SPO) and RTA counterpart? ■ How to create a BC Twinning project team and what responsibilities to assign to them? How to select and nominate component leaders and what responsibilities to assign to them? ■ Harmonisation of activities between the BC and implementing MS. Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz with comments by Eric Tonon and Pawel P. Mlicki 09.30 – 09.45 Short introduction to the seminar topic Pawel P. Mlicki Ph.D - Dutch/Polish Senior Expert, a former Pre-accession and Resident Twinning Advisor from the Dutch Ministry of Justice. 09.45 – 10.30 Selection of a Twinning project area and subjects ■ Relation to a ‘National Programme of Reforms’ (or any other equivalent programme), prior TAIEX activities, peer reviews, short mission activities). ■ Relation to the EU acquis communautaire, European enlargement programmes, PCAs, ENP Action Plans or any other relevant set of accession criteria. ■ Measures to secure that the Twinning subjects are truly relevant and those implementing the project will be fully committed to its implementation (securing the political support). Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz- Head of Unit for Ukraine, Polish Office of the Committee for European Integration (UKIE) with comments by Eric Tonon 17.00 End of day one 19.00 Dinner at a restaurant in the Warsaw Old Town FRIDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 09.15 – 09.45 Securing the (high-level) political support for and commitment to the Twinning project in the MS and BC ■ At which level is the support optimal? ■ How to bind high-level officials to the Twinning project? Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz with comments by Pawel. P. Mlicki 10.30 – 11.30 Drafting the project fiche ■ Who should draft and be consulted (the role of the BC administration, in particular the Project Leader and final beneficiaries, EC delegation, Programme Administration Offices (PAOs), Central Financing & Contracting Unit (CFCU), Beneficiary Country (BC) European Integration Office)? ■ When to draft – in relation to preceding projects that covered the same or similar subjects? ■ How to avoid overlaps with other projects and build upon results of earlier relevant projects? Eric Tonon - former Twinning Coordinator at the European Commission Delegation and Team Leader of the EU funded project in Azerbaijan, with comments from Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz 09.45 – 11.15 The Twinning project implementation: how to organise work of Twinning project bodies and utilise Twinning instruments? ■ Unofficial meetings of Project Leaders and Steering Committee meetings. ■ Side-letters, addenda and other tools to adopt changes to the contract. ■ What to do in case of a conflict – which level to solve it at, whom to involve? ■ Quarterly reports and Steering Committees. ■ The role and task divisions in practice: the responsibilities of the BC and MS Project Leaders, SPO, PAOs, of the RTA/PAA, CFCU and other main players. Pawel P. Mlicki with comments by Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz 11.30 – 11.45 Coffee break 11.15 – 11.30 Coffee break 11.45 – 13.00 Selection process of Member State (MS) to implement the Twinning project ■ Geographic relationship to the BC and other existing relationships (political, economic, social etc.). ■ ‘Old’ MS versus ‘new’ MS versus a mix of both; one MS or a consortium? ■ The role of the EC delegation, PAOs, CFCU, BC European Integration Office, embassies in the process of lobbying. Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz and Pawel P. Mlicki with comments by Eric Tonon 11.30 – 12.30 Financial issues and savings in the project budget ■ The importance of a sound Twinning finance management throughout the duration of the project (EU subsidies and the national co financing). ■ The importance of proper documentation of every financial step taken. ■ How to realise savings and when to utilise them? ■ Role division between the BC and MS administrations in the Twinning finance management. Representative from the Central Financing & Contracting Unit (CFCU), “Co-operation Fund” Foundation in Warsaw – name to be confirmed. 13.00 – 14.00 Lunch 14.00 – 15.00 Resident Twinning Advisor / Pre-accession Advisor (RTA / PAA) ■ Required professional qualities, competencies and other characteristics. ■ Acquaintance with the BC culture, region, local language(s) – a must, a pro, irrelevant. Pawel P. Mlicki 15.00 – 15.45 Drafting the project contract ■ Who should draft (the role of the BC and MS Project Leaders, RTA/PAA, BC and MS component leaders, EC delegation, PAOs, CFCU, BC European Integration Office)? ■ When to draft – relation to preceding projects that covered the same or similar subjects? ■ How specific should the description of components, activities and their time schedule be? Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz with comments by Pawel P. Mlicki 12.30 – 13.00 Follow-up ■ How to sustain the momentum of change achieved by the Twinning project. ■ How to let the results of the current Twinning project be maximally utilised by other projects. Pawel P. Mlicki with comments by Elżbieta Sidorkiewicz 13.00 – 13.15 Conlusions and evaluation of the seminar 13.15 Lunch End of the seminar GENERAL INFORMATION Programme The seminar will commence on Thursday 12 November at 09.15 and finish on Friday 13 November at 13.15. Seminar venue The seminar will take place in the Conference Room at Novotel Warszawa Centrum – 94/98 Marszałkowska Street, in Warsaw. Working language The seminar will be conducted in English. Fee The participation fee is €590 and includes a set of training material, two lunches, one dinner and refreshments. Accommodation and travel costs are at the expense of the participants or their administration. Please note that pre-payment of the fee is a requirement. You are kindly asked to cover the bank charges associated with the money transfer. Please note that cheques will not be accepted as a method of payment. For cancellations received after the date indicated on the registration form, we will have to charge an administration fee of €150 unless a replacement participant is found. Hotel reservations The European Institute of Public Administration, EIPA Warsaw, will be happy to make reservations for you (at a special EIPA rate) at the Novotel Warszawa Centrum**** (http://www.novotel.com), 94/98 Marszalkowska Street, Warsaw, at a cost of PLN 350 (around EUR 85, depending on the daily exchange rate; incl. breakfast, VAT and free internet connection). Please note that if you register after 29 October 2009, hotel reservations cannot be guaranteed. The following hotels are within 5-15min. walking distance from the seminar venue: Hotel Metropol *** http://www.hotelmetropol.com.pl/ Hotel Polonia Palace**** http://www.poloniapalace.com/?pid=196 Hotel Marriott***** http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wawpl-warsaw-marriott-hotel/ Reservations for these hotels should be made by participants themselves. Meals The lunches will be served at Novotel Hotel and the dinner at a restaurant in the Warsaw Old Town. Should you require a special menu (e.g. vegetarian), please inform the Programme Organiser so that it can be arranged. Registration Kindly complete the registration form and return it before 29 October 2009 to Ms Katarzyna Minda, Programme Coordinator, European Institute of Public Administration, EIPA Warsaw, Wawelska 56, 00-922 Warsaw, Poland, tel.: +48 22 570 84 00, fax: +48 22 570 84 07, e-mail: [email protected] [email protected]. You can also submit the online registration form, which can be found on EIPA’s website: http://www.eipa.nl/en/tbl_eipa_antennae/show/&tid=146. Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purpose only. If you do not want to be included in our mailing database, please tick the box in the registration form. Confirmation Confirmation of registration will be forwarded to participants on receipt of the completed registration form. Please do not make any travel arrangements until you have received the confirmation. Cancellation policy EIPA reserves the right to cancel the seminar up to two weeks before the starting date. EIPA accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred (travel, hotel, etc.). For EIPA's cancellation policy, please visit our website www.eipa.eu (legal notice). REGISTRATION FORM How to Set-up and Implement a Successful Twinning Project in EU Candidate, Potential Candidate and Neighbouring countries Warsaw (PL), 12-13 November 2009 Surname: ................................................................................................ Title: ................................................................................................ M/F First name: ............................................................................................ Current position: . ............................................................................... Organisation: ........................................................................................ Department: . ....................................................................................... Work address: ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ Postal code & town: ............................................................................ Country: ................................................................................................. NIP (for Polish participants only): ....................................................................................................................................................................... Tel. no: ..................................................................................................... Fax no: .................................................................................................... E-mail address: .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Closing date: October 29 2009 - Proj. no.: 0981402. This seminar will be held in English Payment The participation fee includes participation in the seminar training material, two lunches, one dinner and beverages: € 590 Method of payment Bank transfer The participants or their administration will receive an invoice for the payment of the registration fee. Invoice address (if different from the abovementioned address): ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... E-mail:...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Credit card American Express Card Card no.: ............................................................................. Expiry date: ......... /......... Name Card holder: ......................................................... (in case this differs from above) Address Card holder: ..................................................... (in case this differs from above) Postal code: ................. Country: .................................. (in case this differs from above) Card Validation Code: .................................................... (the last three digits on the BACK of your card) Eurocard/Mastercard Visa Card Note: Pre-payment is a condition for participation. HOTEL RESERVATION Please reserve hotel accommodation for me at the Novotel Warszawa Centrum**** No hotel reservation required. Date of arrival: ............................................. Date of departure: . ..................................... No. of nights: ............................................... MEALS LunchDay 1: LunchDay 2: Dinner: Vegetarian: yes Fish allowed: yes will attend will attend will attend will not attend will not attend will not attend no Please return the completed registration form before 29 October 2009 to: Ms Katarzyna Minda, European Institute of Public Administration EIPA Antenna Warsaw, Wawelska 56, 00-922 Warsaw, Poland, Tel.: +48 22 570 84 00, Fax: +48 22 570 84 07, E-mail: [email protected] Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purpose only. Please tick if you do not want to be included in our mailing database.