Technical Assistance for establishment and training of joint technical secretariat for the neighbourhood programme between Bulgaria - Serbia & Montenegro

The Neighbourhood Programme (NP) refers to programmes being implemented on the new external borders of the European Union due to the enlargement process.The Neighbourhood Programme between Bulgaria and Serbia and Montenegro (2004-2006) aims at fostering socio and economic cohesion by increasing cross border relations mainly through the implementation of actual interventions on the territory and its economy and through the support of inter-linkages among the local actors and the local communities.

The main operational challenge of the NP is to improve co-ordination between the various financing instruments concerned within the existing legislative and financial framework. For this purpose, a responsible authority has been nominated in each Candidate Country, and a wide partnership at regional, local and non-governmental level involved.  Thus, the overall objective of this technical assistance was to support the authorities of Bulgaria and of Serbia and Montenegro represented in the joint bodies established under the Cross Border Neighbourhood Programme - namely the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) and the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) - in the implementation of their official tasks and in particular the establishment of an effective mechanism for the efficient implementation of the Cross Border Neighbourhood Programmes, and the establishment and strengthening of a co-operative institutional network on both sides of the border in implementing the Cross Border Neighbourhood Programme joint development strategy.

Being direct managing bodies of the Programme, the JSC and the JTS needed to be able to carry out their respective tasks in the most appropriate and efficient way for the sake of the programme management and of its final effective impact. In this framework, the technical assistance given can be summarised as follows:

·          strengthening the capacity  of the JTS and JSC in the management, monitoring, evaluation and control of all activities related to the Cross Border Neighbourhood Programmes between BG and Serbia and Montenegro (2004/2006)

·          assisting these two bodies in preparing and defining ad-hoc procedures, guidelines and operational manuals

·          assisting in the preparation of an information dissemination, awareness and communication plan