Institutional Support to the Ministry of Agricultural, Forestry and Rural Development (ISMAFRD)

Project Background:

In June 1999, an international agreement put Kosovo under United Nations administration. Since then, a series of donor supported projects have supported multi-ethnic capacity building in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD).  It began in 2001 with the Capacity Building Component of a WB/FAO-supported Emergency Farm Reconstruction Project. It was followed in 2002 by ASPAUK, an EAR-supported project to build capacity in Agricultural Statistics and the Policy Advisory Unit, and extended to ASPAUK II which ended in early 2006. The follow-on ASPAUK, the AMPK project was set up in order to prepare and finalise the Agriculture Master Plan for Kosovo which will end in November 2006.  These three consecutive projects were associated with a series of peripheral and linked projects that supported advisory services, land utilisation, marketing, veterinary services, food safety, livestock breeding, irrigation, and forestry, and set the policy and strategy matrix for the agriculture and rural development sector into which all these peripheral projects fitted. 

All of these capacity building projects anticipated eventual membership of the EU. At the same time they focused on: increasing farm incomes; encouraging import substitution and agricultural exports; food security and food safety; increasing productivity, adding value to farm products and increasing the economic security of rural dwellers.

Objectives:

This project is the first of this series of capacity building project that specifically addresses EU approximation as its main focus and has the underpinning rationale for MAFRD policy, strategy and capacity building.  But it also comes at a time of immense significance in the proposed political settlement which is imminent. The project must pay particular attention to this overarching event. In short, this means greater emphasis on developing capacity in the municipalities, particularly, as far as this project is concerned, in their agriculture and rural activities, and in MAFRD’s regional offices. 

Because of these two factors (EU accession and the political settlement) MAFRD must restructure, probably early 2007. As with the chain of projects mentioned above, this project must serve the MAFRD and assist the reorganisation with capacity building and focused training.

Activities:

The purpose of the project is to strengthen further institution building in the Ministry of Agricultural, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD) by:

• Supporting the EU integration process and law harmonisation and approximation
• Making MAFRD more efficient through human resources development (HRD) and training
• Supporting agricultural policy and development of agricultural statistics and the Farm Accounting Data Network (FADN)
• Developing budget management skills to facilitate access to IPA financial resources

The results to be achieved by the consultant are as follows:

• Functioning MAFRD EU Integration Unit that is able to implement the European Partnership programme being coordinated by the Office of European Integration Processes in the Prime Minister’s Office
• Laws relevant to the agricultural sector approximated and harmonized with the acquis communautaire, including the identification of all necessary implementation/enforcement conditions
• Improved MAFRD operational efficiency (also at municipalities’ level)
• Identification and start-up of a 7 year HRD and training programme (workshop, seminars, regional and EU study tours, scholarship, internship, production of information/publication materials, exhibition, local promotion events…)
• Strengthened and functioning MAFRD policy and statistic departments, as well as a Kosovo-wide Farm Accounting Data Network (FADN)
• Budget management skills matching EU standard.