Our projects

The current objective is to improve the performance of the Swiss HoA programme. This will be achieved thanks to a broad shift in posture, achieved through four highlevel outcomes: (a) improved monitoring and risk governance of the SDC HoA programme, (b) increased benefits for the most vulnerable people, including in hard-to-reach areas, through better targeting by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), (c) increased number and improved quality of partnerships with local actors, and (d) improved state-led national development plan (NDP) and sustainable development goals (SDG) monitoring.

To better achieve this it is believed that third-party monitoring should be applied at the project, portfolio and strategy level, backed up by community feedback mechanisms to increase accountability to beneficiaries, and implementing partner risk assessments, audit field spot checks, in addition to training and capacity building of implementing partners. SDC will therefore be able to improve the tracking of its projects in Somalia, and also to extend the mix of aid modalities, and allow the management of projects to focus to a greater extent on risk management and trust.

Through its Whole-of-Government Regional Cooperation Strategy Horn of Africa (CS Horn of Africa) 2018-2021, Switzerland has the following priorities:

• Geographic target: At risk regions of the Horn of Africa, mainly Somalia (including Somaliland), and the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Kenya (i.e. North-Eastern Kenya) and Ethiopia (i.e. South-Eastern Ethiopia). Switzerland aims at stronger focusing its intervention to rural and harder-to-reach areas.
• Population target: pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, most vulnerable parts of population (including displacement-affected communities). Switzerland aims at better including marginalized and disadvantaged groups, such as minority groups in Somalia.
• Thematic target: Governance, Food Security, Health, Protection/Migration.
• A new Regional Cooperation Programme for the Horn of Africa will be developed in 2021 for the period 2022-25. It is expected that only minor adjustments to the mentioned geographic, population and thematic targets will occur.

Project Components and Phases. FRAP is made up of the following elements:

a) Third-Party Monitoring (TPM) (subject of this tender) and a Digital Platform

b) Support to the International NGO Safety Organization (INSO)

c) Possibly support to the Somalia UN Risk Management Unit (UN RMU)

d) Possibly direct or indirect support to the National Bureau of Statistics of Somalia

As part of the first element, the Kulmis Support Team (KST) works with SDC, implementing partners and digital platform developers to ensure all SDC M&E tools and IP progress data are accurately transferred to the digital platform. This task also including supporting implementing partners during this transaction process, as providing trainings, supporting on filling and uploading specific progress monitoring tools, undertaking the initial QA-QC in data management, etc. In addition to that, KST regularly provides feedback to developers to ensure the digital platform is user friendly and reflects the accurate data, along with regular updates on data protocol to be adopted.

The overall aim of the project is to ++support DG INTPA and DG NEAR in improving quality of performance, institutional learning and accountability for a better targeted and more sustainable impact of EU external action++.

The project comprises ++7 different services++:

++1++: provide methodological support to EU staff to plan, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate EU interventions in a coherent, efficient and effective manner.

++2++: assist requests of methodological screening and quality assurance related to programming and design.

++3++: assist to the enhancement of the internal monitoring and results reporting systems of the Commission services.

++4++: support and contribute to the revision of the results-oriented monitoring (ROM) system and provide operational and coordination support to the ROM contracts.

++5++: assist Commission staff in their mandate to steer, coordinate, monitor and report on evaluation activities.

++6++: support the two units of the DGs to enhance the quality of EU external action by ensuring the quality of the different evaluation deliverables.

++7++: provide methodological support on knowledge management for INTPA.D4 and NEAR.A4 by developing a set of tools and techniques and responding to requests of support.

++Main staff provided for 4 year of contract:++

• Key Expert 1 (Team Leader): 880 WD
• Key Expert 2: 880 WD
• Key Expert 3: 880 WD
• Key Expert 4: 880 WD
• SNKE: 11.847,25
• MNKE: 7.146
• JNKE: 5.887,50

The EU Cohesion Policy is a key investment strategy aimed at reducing regional disparities and fostering smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth across the EU. It operates through national, regional, and Interreg cooperation programmes to support infrastructure, the green transition, connectivity, and social inclusion in the EU Member States, while preparing candidate countries for EU membership by building administrative capacity through Interreg and tailored training programmes.

The overall objective of the project is to prepare candidate countries for implementing cohesion policy in the lead up to and upon accession.

The project specifically aims to:

• Train staff from national administrations at central and local/regional level participating in Interreg programmes (and IPA III programmes, if staff overlaps), to reinforce their capacities for participating in and later on implementing cohesion policy programmes.
• Organise study visits (and cover related travel and accommodation costs and per diem) for short-term work experience in selected Member States’ managing or audit authorities, thereby increasing the skills for benefitting better from their participation in existing programmes and preparing future ones.

The technical assistance contributed to a more efficient implementation of EU resources in the Central African Republic and, as a result, improved the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of aid in order to increase its impact on the economic and social development, in line with the National Plan for Recovery and Peacebuilding in the Central African Republic (RCPCA 2017 - 2021) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through the institutional support to the National Authorising Officer (Component 1) and the Technical Cooperation Facility (FCT) (Component 2), the project aimed to:

• improve coordination and streamlining of aid (from the EDF, the Bêkou Fund or other donors);
• strengthen the monitoring of public policies through regular political dialogue and interface with technical ministries;
• support the National Authorising Officer Support Unit (CAONF) and the EU-funded project and program management teams;
• support the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation in his leadership on the process of implementation of the RCPCA and the management of aid in the Central African Republic.

In addition, the Consortium managed a Programme Estimate in the "Private commissioned operations" mode amounting to 849,727.07 Euro.

The "Learning2gether2" program continues Finland’s support to implementation of the New Ukrainian School (NUS) reform, focusing on the Upper Secondary School (USS) Academic reform (Grades 10-12) with a budget of up to 20 million EUROs over four years. The purpose of the appraisal was to assess the feasibility of the Programme as defined in the draft Programme Document (PD).

The key issues of the appraisal were the Programme’s relevance to beneficiaries and main stakeholders in Ukraine, feasibility of the proposed implementation strategy, organisational structures, TA support, work plans, resource allocations and budget, sustainability as well as the result orientation and likely effectiveness in Ukraine. An important question to verify was how the Programme fits into the NUS/USS reform and its different phases, and what its contribution to the reform is. The appraisal also assessed the integration of cross-cutting objectives into the programme plan. The appraisal also included the finalisation of the draft Programme Document.

++Global objective:++

=The overall objective of the assignment is to further strengthen the capacity of the staff of the EC (including FPI, line DGs, EEAS and EUDs) and the Implementing Partners involved in the design, monitoring and implementation of FPI-funded actions in line with results-based management principles.

++Specific objective(s)++

++The specific objectives are to:++

• Increase the capacity of EC and Implementing Partners' staff to design, implement and monitor EU-funded actions managed by FPI;
• Improve the quality of interventions and the achievement and reporting of their respective results.

The consultant is requested to perform the following services:

• ++Task 1.++ Training for FPI Operational Managers, implementing partners and line DGs on the LogFrame Matrices (LFM), indicators, monitoring and reporting.
• ++Task 2++ Coaching for FPI Operational Managers and Implementing Partners.
• ++Task 3++ Ad-hoc guidance and technical assistance to FPI Operational Managers and implementing Partners.
• ++Task 4++ Support to the continued enhancement of the monitoring system and results reporting to FPI.4

++Deliverables++

• 3-monthly reports summarising feedback received and issues identified as well as proposed recommendations for improvement, and where relevant, support to implement the solutions retained;
• Any necessary guidance document.

++Required outputs++

• The number of staff from FPI and implementing partners with programming, monitoring and evaluation expertise is increased;
• The quality of the design of programming/action documents is improved;
• The quality of action/intervention level and FPI-level reporting on results is improved.

The overall objective of the intervention is to support DG NEAR to strengthen the linkages between the planning/programming, monitoring and evaluation of EU support (policy dialogue and financial assistance) in the context of the neighbourhood and enlargement policies.

The three purposes of this contract are as follows:

• to provide methodological support to DG NEAR staff and implementing partners for the design of strategic documents (e.g. indicative strategy papers, single support frameworks, sector planning documents), and of programming documents e.g. action documents, annual action programmes) in particular the elaboration of context analysis, definition of problems, the elaboration of intervention logic diagrams, and the definition of relevant indicators;
• to provide methodological support to DG NEAR staff and implementing partners for the design of monitoring and evaluation systems/arrangements at sector/policy/action levels and the implementation of the monitoring activities and evaluations of EU support;
• to promote a monitoring, evaluation and learning culture within the DG and in the partner countries/beneficiaries.

The general objective of this service contract is to strengthen DG REFORM capacity of designing, monitoring, and evaluating projects.

The three outcomes of this contract are as follows:

Outcome 1: DG REFORM staff have developed consolidated skills and expertise in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating technical support projects, using the principles and methodology of the Logical Framework Approach

Outcome 2: DG REFORM policy officers have been empowered to embed evaluation concepts and tools at each step of the project management cycle (design, contracting, implementation, evaluation)

Outcome 3: DG REFORM has developed an evaluation strategy to assess outcomes and impact of groups of projects

In the medium and long run, the achievement of the outcome of this service contract should contribute towards the development of a strong evaluation culture in DG REFORM (impact)

The global objective was:

• to contribute to economic development and sustainable wealth creation through the preservation of Southern Africa’s rich biodiversity in the oceans namely the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME), in a way that can support job creation, improved food security and sustainable livelihoods, while preserving and restoring the ecosystems and wildlife that are vital to all.

The objective of the assignment was:

• to assist the EU to undertake the identification and formulation of an action supporting the development of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) in Southern Africa following a sustainable development approach.

The main objectives of the Project implementation and monitoring support PIMS is to further strengthen the capacity of the staff of the EC (including FPI, line DGs, EEAS and EUDs) and the implementing partners involved in the design, monitoring and implementation of PI funded actions in line with results based management principles. The project has two main objectives: (1) Increase the capacity of EC and implementing partners' staff to design, implement and monitor PI funded actions; (2) Improve the quality of actions and the achievement and reporting of results.

The project will:

• Deliver a hands-on training as regards PI common indicators, logical frameworks and monitoring arrangements to be implemented by PI funded actions, in order to enable PI project managers and implementing partners, including framework contactors, to become acquainted with the system and to be able to use it.
• Coach PI project managers and implementing partners to identify and/or refine indicators for new or already ongoing actions so that all those involved in the project implementation take on board relevant common PI indicators, ensure common understanding by all stakeholders as well as to help them select indicators for actions where implementation is in its inception.
• Provide ad hoc guidance through a helpdesk which will consist of replies to specific questions asked by PI project managers and implementing partners and hands on support to PI project managers and implementing partners with specific tasks, on a demand driven basis.
• Provide technical assistance to FPI.4 in the roll out OPSYS and implementation of the system in relation to the PI as well as in relation to the changes likely to take place following the approval of the new MFF.