Objectives, Pourpuses, expected results

This project represents complementary technical assistance to the Sector Reform Performance Contract (SRPC) in Education, Employment, Social Protection (EESP) with the purpose to provide overarching capacity support to the key line Ministries and stakeholders as well as undertaking ongoing and systematic monitoring and assessment of the sector reform process.

The specific purposes of the project are:

  • Technical assistance to national authorities to strengthen their capacity for implementing sector reforms related to the Sector Budget Support/the Sector Reform Performance Contract (SRPC) action ‘EU for Youth’.
  • Monitoring and assessment of implementation and achievement of the performance indicators foreseen in and by the SRPC.

‘Technical assistance’ means…

Sector budget support is usually supplemented by the provision of assistance – ‘service’ for beneficiaries improving their ability to implement agreed targets of the SRPC. Budget support presents financial motivation (related to expenditures of beneficiaries in order to implement agreed reform targets) and technical assistance presents advisory to the implementation itself. Technical assistance is provided by a team of consultants/experts in particular sectors (in our case education and employment) with international knowledge and experience who cooperate with experts and managers of local (Macedonian) institutions. International experts share their knowledge and thus don’t contribute to the meeting of agreed targets, only, but at the same time improve the knowledge and skills of beneficiaries’ experts.

International experts assist also in the preparation of disbursement requests in order to ensure, that requests will be developed in compliance with BS rules. The role of technical assistance is thus also contributing to the smooth processing of annual payments of budget support.

The results of the project include:

  • Increased and improved institutional capacities of the key institutions, the key line Ministries, and Agencies responsible for the implementation of the SRPC framework to effectively coordinate, implement and monitor the Education, Employment, and Social Policy (EESP) reform agenda and institutional capacity for gender analysis in the sector related to the SRPC is reinforced,
  • Tracer systems for initial and continuous vocational education and training by VET providers and Youth Guarantee and employment generation programmes are established and utilised by the key institutions,
  • Monitoring of the sector reforms: systematic and regular monitoring and assessment undertaken to assist the EUD to determine the extent to which the general and specific conditions and performance indicators under the SRPC have been achieved and to determine the extent of progress achieved in line with SRPC conditionalities,
  • Enhanced communication, information and public awareness of the reforms in the sector, supported by EU through the SRPC.