Deconcentration

The deconcentration of the management of external aid to the Delegations of the Commission is a key element of the reform of the management of the external assistance. The principle is that what can be better managed and decided on the spot, in the country concerned, should be done there, and not in Brussels.

The Commission has set itself an extremely tight timetable. The objective is to extend deconcentration to all the Delegations before the end of 2003, in three successive waves: 21 Delegations have been covered in 2001, 26 to be covered in 2002 and the remaining 30 Delegations in 2003, all of them in ACP countries.

2.4.1. Preparing for Deconcentration

During the first quarter of 2001, a harmonised concept of deconcentration was defined, covering all the geographical programmes. The principles on which this was based remain valid and are recalled below:

– in time, deconcentration will concern all programmes;

– deconcentration will concern all the phases of the project cycle;

– deconcentration requires the provision of substantial additional resources (human and material);

– the role of Headquarters will evolve towards a role of co-ordination, quality supervision, management control, technical support and improvement of working practices.

At a practical level, deconcentration involves the following changes for the Delegations:

– a more active contribution to programming, although final responsibility will remain with the External Relations or Development DGs according to the geographical area;

– direct responsibility for identification and appraisal stages, with methodological and technical support by the EuropeAid Co-operation Office, which will also be responsible for final quality control on financing proposals and for taking these through the decision process (management committee procedures, etc);

– direct responsibility for contractual and financial implementation – this is subject to the strict respect of procedures, and requires secure access to the financial and accounting management systems at Headquarters;

– direct responsibility for technical implementation requiring technical expertise on the spot and the possibility to call on more specialised advice from headquarters.

Much of what has been done to render the first phase operational will also serve to facilitate the extension of the process to the remaining Delegations, such as the adaptation of information systems for deconcentrated management, developing or updating manuals of procedures, developing guidelines on financial circuits and putting in place training programmes. However, much preparatory work will be specific to each Delegation to be deconcentrated, such as the testing of secure computer connections, ensuring suitable office accommodation, and adoption of an organisation chart.

2.4.2. Deconcentration towards the 21 First Wave Delegations

The ambitious objective for 2001 – to carry out deconcentration in 21 Delegations35 - covered all the geographical areas and therefore programmes of a very varied nature. This was a major exercise, involving the recruitment and training of over 300 staff, finding new office space in all but two Delegations and installing secure computer connections in 19 Delegations. This objective has been fully met and deconcentration is now fully operational in all these Delegations. However, it is worth mentioning that, from October 2002, 114 posts have been made available to launch the second wave and some of these posts may still be used to strengthen first wave Delegations where necessary.

2.4.3. Preparation of the Second Wave 26 Delegations and the EC Office in Kabul

The list of 26 Delegations36 to be deconcentrated in 2002 was established in September 2001. Preparatory work started immediately thereafter and hearings took place from early January.

The outcome of this process for the second wave Delegations can be summarised as follows:

– A total of 418 staff had to be selected, recruited and trained before their posting to the 26 Delegations;

– 24 out of the 26 Delegations have either had to move office or to rent additional office space;

– 18 out of the 26 had no secured computer connection in order to get access to Commission accounting and management information systems.

Despite the magnitude of the operation, the process is on track. 23 Delegations have started to operate in a deconcentrated way in late 2002 or will be ready to start early in 2003 with the new budget year. In the 4 remaining Delegations, problems are mainly of a logistical nature and efforts are under way to resolve these by March 2003.

Deconcentration to the Commission Office in Kabul has also progressed satisfactorily with everything in place to commence deconcentration in January 2003.

35 _{The 21 “first wave” Delegations are:} EUROPE: Croatia, Russia

ASIA: Indonesia, Thailand, India, China

LATIN AMERICA: Nicaragua Bolivia, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil

AFRICA/ACP: South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Dominican Republic 36 _{The “2}nd _{wave” Delegations are :}

EUROPE : Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine

MEDA : Algeria, West Bank & Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria ASIA : Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, Vietnam

LATIN AMERICA : Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela

AFRICA/ACP : Burkina Faso, Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of Guinea, Tanzania

As was the case in the first wave, it appears that the timely availability of sufficient office space represents, in many instances, the binding constraint for the start of deconcentration. This is particularly true when temporary solutions for the installation of a secured computer connection cannot be found. In some cases there has been a shortage of suitable candidate particularly for official posts in the finance and contract sections.

2.4.4. Preparation of the Third Wave of 30 Delegations37

Attention will now shift to the third wave delegations, for which technical workshops took place in July 2002 with the Heads of Delegations concerned. Staffing requirements, accommodation capacity and IT issues were analysed in detail. Lessons learned from the 1st and the 2nd waves of deconcentration will be taken into account in the 3rd wave.

With the ratification of the Cotonou Agreement and the finalisation of a strategy to provide sustainable financing for deconcentration to ACP Delegations, the first Delegations of the third wave are expected to start operating under deconcentrated modalities by the end of 2003.

2.4.5. Deconcentration of thematic and horizontal budget lines

Progress has also been achieved on the deconcentration of the thematic and horizontal lines. The Commission services have recently adopted modalities for the deconcentration of the Food Security budget lines and have agreed on the corresponding human resources needs. Deconcentration to all Delegations concerned38 is scheduled to be implemented between March and December 2003. Preparatory work on the deconcentration of the Human Rights micro-projects has begun and effective deconcentration can be expected by April 2003.

For rehabilitation and refugee budget lines, the decision to deconcentrate has been taken in December 2002 and preparations are in hand to render this effective as quickly as possible.

37 _{The “3}rd _{wave” Delegations are ACP:}

Angola, Barbados, Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Rep. Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Chad, Zambia, Zimbabwe