The official start of the project was on 1st of January 2020 with an Inception phase of three months. The Contractor mobilized the core project team in January 2020 who had the Kick off meeting with the representatives from the Contracting Authority in Brussels on 30th January.

The Project team visited all beneficiary countries to establish initial contact with the responsible persons, to perform situation analysis and to discuss their opinion and expectations from the project.

During the Inception phase, activities, tasks, deliverables including the indicative expected input by project experts were defined. The Project team prepared the Inception Report which was agreed with the Contracting Authority. The Inception Report was then sent to all beneficiary countries for their consideration and comments.

Due to the imposed restrictions on travel, closed borders and general lockdown that applied to restrict spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the region, the project activities were with low intensity during April and May.

In June the Project Team reassembled in the regional project office in Belgrade and resumed with the project implementation. The activities in June were mainly focused on preparation for the project implementation, including re-scheduling the project work plan in the given situation, preparation of the Terms of reference and recruitment of Senior Non-Key experts. Implementation of four project activities for which regional travel was not considered as essential was initiated.

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the initiation of project implementation. If the crisis continues, it will have further impact on project activities, particularly for those which require physical assembly of project team and beneficiaries, particularly the simulation exercises and workshops.

Therefore, until it is safe to return to normal operating mode again, the emphasis will be placed on activities that do not require on site client interaction. The mitigation approach will include use of internet-based communication for the daily work, consultations and discussions with the Contracting authority, between project experts and with the beneficiary countries.

When the travelling restrictions will be ceased and travelling become possible, the project will update the timing schedule presented in this report and start with the field activities.