Reports |
INCEPTION REPORT
Executive summary
The official start of the project was on January 1st, 2020 with an Inception phase of three months. The Contractor mobilized the core project team in January 2020 which had the Kick off meeting with the representatives from the Contracting Authority – European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) in Brussels on January 30th.
The ADEWB Project is implemented in parallel in six different countries of the region. The structure of the veterinary authorities differs, as it is the same with the priorities on the short term. Nevertheless, the strategic priority of all Western Balkan (WB) countries is the aspiration to join the European Union (EU) and to comprehend all obligations in the pre-accession process for becoming an EU member state. Different countries are at different stages toward this objective. Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania are candidate countries and Montenegro and Serbia have already advanced in the negotiation process (Serbia is expected to open the negotiation process on Chapter 12). Montenegro has opened negotiation chapter 12 in 2016 and has finished almost all of the obligations for closing benchmarks for this chapter. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo * are potential candidates where yet numerous activities are being implemented to achieve the candidate status and starting the negotiations.
The project main beneficiaries are the veterinary competent authorities of the concerned countries and the project purpose is to ensure that the technical capacity of the beneficiary competent authorities is upgraded to ensure favourable animal health status for the whole region over long term and enable free access of products of animal origin to the EU markets.
During the Inception phase, the project team has visited all beneficiary countries and conducted meetings with the competent authorities, veterinary laboratories, EU Delegations, and technical cooperation projects. Findings through these meetings contributed to review the project design, confirm the objectives, results and activities of the project and where relevant propose amendments. The project activities were grouped in three main groups and 26 sub-activities or tasks.
There are many national technical support projects and regional initiatives with similar objectives and activities that were implemented or are being implemented in the region. An important project mission is to establish solid coordination to avoid duplication and optimize the outcomes of the invested resources. The project will continuously communicate with all national projects in the beneficiary countries and coordinate activities where required to enchase the results.
Being a complex project implemented in six different countries, the project team has to establish a close communication and efficient collaboration with all veterinary authorities in the beneficiary countries and all relevant technical support projects. In that regard, one of the first activities of the project in the Implementation phase is to establish general overview of ongoing projects in the IPA beneficiary countries and set up a cooperation platform of the ADEWB projects with all counterparts.
The recent COVID-19 outbreak with a wave in 2020 imposes alternative ways in the work organization applied so far. The national authorities and global health organizations recommend that people work from home to secure their health and to limit further spread of the coronavirus. This situation still has an impact on the ADEWB Project implementation process due to closed borders and suspended flights between countries which does not allow project experts to work from the project office established in Belgrade and implement missions in the beneficiary countries as initially planned.
Therefore, the Consortium proposed a mitigation approach where the daily work, consultations and discussions with the Contracting authority, between project experts and with the beneficiary countries will be maintained using internet-based communication tools.
Activities that can be organized and carried out remotely are identified and their implementation moved forward. This is clearly indicated in the timeline for the project implementation. When the travelling restrictions cease and travelling becomes possible, the project will update the timing schedule presented in this report and will start with the field activities.
In general, the beneficiary countries found the project objectives, results and activities highly relevant for the overall project purpose i.e. to ensure that the technical capacity of the beneficiary competent authorities is upgraded to contribute to achieving favourable animal health status for the whole region over long term and enable free access of products of animal origin to the EU markets.
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1st INTERIM REPORT
Executive summary
The Interim report No. 1 for the project “Regional Action for Animal Disease Eradication in the Western Balkans” covers the reporting period from 1st of April until 30th of June 2020.
During the Inception phase, activities, tasks, deliverables including the indicative expected input by project experts were defined. Due to the imposed restrictions on travel, closed borders and general lockdown that was applied to restrict the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region, the project activities were with low intensity during April and May 2020.
In June 2020 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 the preparation for the project implementation, including re-scheduling of the project work plan in the given situation, preparation of the Terms of reference and recruitment of Senior Non-Key experts (SNKE). The implementation of four project activities, for which regional travel was not considered as essential, was initiated. The initiated activities are: A1.3: Design a clear procedure for safe collection and transport of samples to the laboratory, as fast as possible; A1.5: Strengthen the regional laboratory network in cooperation with the EU Reference Laboratories; A2.3: To establish a general overview of ongoing projects in the IPA beneficiary countries and set up cooperation where appropriate and possible; A3.1: To review existing legislation in the relevant IPA II beneficiary’s countries and suggests recommendations so the existing legislation will conform the EU legislation with a special focus on the upcoming Animal Health Law, Regulation (EU) 2016/429.
The Covid-19 pandemic affected the initiation of the project implementation. If the crisis continues, it will have further impact on the project activities, particularly for those which require physical assembly of the project team and beneficiaries, particularly the face-to-face workshops and simulation exercises. 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.
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2nd INTERIM REPORT
Executive summary
The Interim report No.2 for the project “Regional Action for Animal Disease Eradication in the Western Balkans” covers the reporting period from 1st of July until 31st December 2020.
During the reporting period the project team had operated both from the project office in Belgrade and remotely (home based) with only limited regional travel. Senior Non-Key Experts did not travel to the project’s regional office in Belgrade and worked entirely from remote base. In conditions influenced by Covid-19 restrictions the implementation of the project was a challenge. Nevertheless, some progress in achieving these results was made.
During the reporting period, the project team launched those activities where the physical presence of the project team (Key experts and Senior Non-Key Experts) was not deemed essential and could be effectively replaced by remote communication.
Eleven project activities were initiated during the reporting period. Final reports and foreseen deliverables were prepared for activities A.1.3 (Design a clear procedure for safe collection and transport of samples to the laboratory, as fast as possible); A1.5 (Strengthen the regional laboratory network in cooperation with the EU Reference Laboratories); A2.3 (To establish a general overview of ongoing projects in the IPA beneficiaries countries and set up cooperation where appropriate and possible); and A3.11 (Create an economical overview to visualize how market economy in the IPA beneficiary countries could be influenced by free trade in the Member State, if disease free status is achieved).
For the remaining launched activities, final reports and deliverables are in preparation: A1.4 (Set up a common system for procurement of vaccines); A2.1 (Conduct an assessment of the specific national strategies for the control of the concerned diseases and identify gaps on cooperation both internal and external in the veterinary services); A3.1 (To review existing legislation in the relevant IPA II beneficiary’s countries and suggest recommendations so the existing legislation will conform the EU legislation with a special focus on the upcoming animal health law); A3.7 (Design a strategy for vaccination) & A3.8 (Develop a strategy of how to deal with emerging diseases); A3.9 (Create an action plan toward establishing a secure system for handling of dead animals as well as other animal by products (ABP), to minimize the risk of spreading disease) & A3.10 (Create an action plan for establishing national facilities or procedures to ensure cleanliness and disinfection of lorries after transporting live animals across the borders to both EU countries and West Balkan countries); A3.12 (Design and develop a tool to create future simulation exercises at strategic level as well as on practical level. The tool has to contain following elements: how to target the exercise, design, performance, evaluation and a procedure for implementing lessons learned).
The online communication and remote working has become standard during 2020 and it is difficult to assume that in the next six months the overall pandemic conditions and in particular the travelling restrictions will be completely ceased and the working mode will return to normal again.
The mitigation approach which was agreed with the Contracting Authority and the beneficiary countries during the project’s first Steering Committee meeting is again proposed. The daily work, consultations and discussions with the Contracting Authority, between project experts and with the beneficiary countries will be maintained using internet-based communication tools. The Contractor’s backstopping team is also ensured to support project experts in line with project needs.
When the overall conditions improve, the project will reassess the implementation mode and the timing schedule and continue with adopted activities.
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3rd INTERIM REPORT
Executive summary
The Interim Report No.3 of the project “Regional Action for Animal Disease Eradication in the Western Balkans” (ADEWB Project) covers the reporting period from 1st of January until 30 June 2021.
During the reporting period the project team operated both from the project office in Belgrade and remotely (home based) with only limited regional travel. Senior Non-Key Experts did not travel to the project’s regional office in Belgrade and worked entirely from remote base.
In conditions influenced by Covid-19 restrictions the implementation of the project was a challenge. Nevertheless, important progress in achieving project results was made.
During the reporting period, 17 project activities were under implementation with lower or higher intensity. Final reports, workshops or foreseen deliverables were prepared for activities A3.7-Design a strategy for vaccination & A3.8-Develop a strategy of how to deal with emerging diseases for bluetongue and rabies control and for A2.4-System for transparent communication & A2.5-Recommendations for enhanced regional multy-country cooperation. The proposals for regional strategies (rabies and bluetongue) and proposal for enhanced regional cooperation were discussed on the workshop that was organized with physical presence of participants in Montenegro. An online webinar was organized where staff of the OIE Headquarters presented in details the steps and procedures for endorsement of OIE statuses for classical swine fever (CSF) and rabies and the recently developed World Animal Health Information System-WAHIS (A3.3). An online workshop was also organized to present the SOPs for sampling, packaging and dispatch of samples to the relevant representatives of the beneficiary countries and to initiate discussion and receive comments and suggestions from the participants to further improve and adjust the SOPs to country(ies) needs (A1.3) and to present the current regional laboratory capacity relevant to the project target diseases and to initiate discussion on regional laboratory cooperation (A1.5). The Project Team continued with its close consultation and coordination of its activities with other relevant national and regional projects (A2.3).
For the remaining launched activities, final reports and deliverables are in preparation.
The next six months of the project implementation will be very intensive and all remaining activities will be launched and deliverables completed.
The current epidemiological situation and Covid-19 relevant travelling restrictions in the region encourage to proceed with the plans to organize the remaining workshops with physical presence and regional travel of project experts. In case if these assumptions proved wrong for the next reporting period, the mitigation approach which was agreed with the Contracting Authority and the beneficiary countries will again be used: The daily work, consultations and discussions with the Contracting Authority, between project experts and with the beneficiary countries will be maintained using internet-based communication tools and the Contractor’s backstopping team will also be ensured to support project experts in line with project needs. In such case, the Project Team will reassess the implementation mode and timing schedule and continue with adopted activities.
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4th INTERIM REPORT
Executive summary
The Interim Report No.4 of the project “Regional Action for Animal Disease Eradication in the Western Balkans” (ADEWB Project) covers the reporting period from 1st of July until 31 December 2021.
During the reporting period the project team operated from the project office in Belgrade and remotely (home based). Traveling restrictions in the region were relaxed and the Team Leader, the Key Expert 2 and Senior Non-Key Expert (SNKE) on capacity building visited all beneficiary countries. The other Senior Non-Key Experts did not travel to the project’s regional office in Belgrade and worked from remote base.
All project activities were initiated during the reporting period, and 23 project activities were under implementation with lower or higher intensity. Final reports, workshops or foreseen deliverables were prepared for activities A2.4 Establish a system of transparent communication between the veterinary services and A2.5 Draft recommendations for an enhanced regional multi country cooperation, which were discussed and agreed during the first Chief Veterinary Officers (CVO) meeting in July in Montenegro. A general strategy to implement European Union (EU) legislation including national action plans were prepared (A3.2 Design a strategy to implement the future relevant EU legislation concerning animal diseases) and then further discussed during workshop in Belgrade in January 2022. The Project team continued to support the beneficiaries in preparation of the dossiers for recognition of disease freedom (A3.3 Support the preparation of a dossier). The SNKE on capacity building visited all beneficiary countries and prepared reports to assess the capacities, identify gaps and propose steps to mitigate those gaps (A3.4 Identify gaps as regards the required resources, the technical capability and the interaction with stakeholders of the veterinary services and A3.5 Propose initiatives to mitigate those gaps). SNKEs further prepared coherent strategies for regional control for transboundary animal diseases (African swine fever, classical swine fever, lumpy skin disease, peste des petit ruminants and sheep pox and goat pox) in the frame of the project activities A3.7 Design a strategy for vaccination and A3.8 Develop a strategy of how to deal with emerging diseases. An action plan for establishing of a secure system for handling of dead animals and other ABP to minimize the spreading of diseases was proposed (A3.9) and to establish national facilities and procedures to ensure cleanliness and disinfection of lorries after transporting live animals (A3.10). Finally, a Tool to create future simulation exercises was prepared (A3.12) and will be tested for the preparation of the simulation exercises foreseen to be held in February and March 2022.
For the remaining launched activities, final reports and deliverables are in preparation.
The project was extended without additional costs for additional four months and the end date of the project is now 1st May 2022. The next four months of the project implementation will be very intensive and all remaining activities will be completed.
The current epidemiological situation and Covid-19 relevant travelling restrictions in the region encourage to proceed with the plans to organize the remaining workshops with physical presence and regional travel of project experts. In case if these assumptions proved wrong for the next reporting period, the mitigation approach which was agreed with the Contracting Authority and the beneficiary countries will again be used: The daily work, consultations and discussions with the Contracting Authority, between project experts and with the beneficiary countries will be maintained using internet-based communication tools and the Contractor’s backstopping team will also be ensured to support project experts in line with project needs. In such case, the Project Team will reassess the implementation mode and timing schedule and continue with adopted activities.
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Final report |
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Project Steering Committee (PSC) meetings |
1st PSC meeting
Date: The 1st PSC meeting held online, at Monday, 20 July 2020.
Minutes of meeting – Download (login required)
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2nd PSC meeting
Date: The 2nd PSC meeting held online, on Tuesday, 2 March 2021
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3rd PSC meeting
Date: The 3rd PSC meeting held online on Wednesday, 15 September 2021
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