TWINNING CONTRACT EG/07/AA/F106 MISSION REPORT. Project start-up meeting (Technical Kick-off) Budget no 6.2 Participation in Kick-Off Seminar

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1 TWINNING CONTRACT Institutional Capacity Building for the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) and Developing the Legal Framework for Statistics in Egypt EG/07/AA/F106 MISSION REPORT on Project start-up meeting (Technical Kick-off) Budget no 6.2 Participation in Kick-Off Seminar Mission carried out by Søren Brodersen, Anja Stiil and Charlotte Juul Hansen Statistics Denmark EE2008:01 Cairo, 5-9 October 2008 Version: Final EE 2008:01 Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics Statistics Denmark

2 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 2 of 10 PHARE 2005 Authors name, address, Charlotte Juul Hansen Sejrøgade 11 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark Tel cjh@dst.dk Søren Brodersen Sejrøgade 11 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark Tel sbr@dst.dk Anja Stiil Sejrøgade 11 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark Tel als@dst.dk 2

3 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 3 of 10 Table of contents 1. General comments Assessment and results Conclusions and recommendations... 6 Annex1. Terms of Reference... 7 Annex 2. Programme for the mission... 9 Annex 3. Persons met List of Abbreviations CAPMAS MS PAO RTA ToR EU Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics Member State Programme Administration Office, Ministry of International Cooperation Resident Twinning Advisor Terms of Reference European Union 3

4 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 4 of General comments This mission report was prepared within the Egyptian-Danish Twinning Project Institutional capacity building for the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation And Statistics. The mission was to participate in the Kick-off Meeting of the project as stated in budget line 6.2 Participation in Kick-off Seminar. The concrete objective of the mission was: To ensure a good working relationship between the Danish project management and the project management of CAPMAS as well as the Project Administration Office (PAO) and the EU delegation in Egypt. The Danish Project Management would like to thank CAPMAS, PAO and the RTA for a warm welcome to Egypt and for great and productive meetings. The views and observations stated in this report are those of the Danish Project Management and do not necessarily correspond to the views of EU, CAPMAS or Statistics Denmark/Finland/Sweden/ Latvia/ Czech Republic. 2. Assessment and results All activities were undertaken as listed in the Terms of Reference: Meeting between RTA and Danish project management Søren Brodersen, Anja Stiil and Charlotte Juul Hansen met with the RTA Peter Ottosen to discuss the status of the project, work plan and the planning of missions, financial matters, and cooperation within the Danish project management team and with our partners. The following issues were decided: RTA should coordinate with external donors on other statistics projects. Contact has already been created with the MEDSTAT II project. Contact needs to be taken to the World Bank and other donors working in statistics. The ToR for each mission should include a description of the component, a description of the activity and the benchmarks the mission activity supports. ToR must be shared with the respective Key Expert and short-term experts one month before the mission. Ideally ToRs should build on previous relevant missions undertaken. The assessment mission under each component should, in addition to assessing the current situation within the component are, assess the future missions identified and suggest any improvements. Mission reports should include recommendations as well as the mission s direct contributions to reaching benchmarks. A list of museums and other sights showing the cultural background of the beneficiary country could be helpful to the experts. Statistics Denmark will conduct an evaluation of its own experts 6 months into the project. The mission time table should be ready three months in advance of a mission. This way we ensure proper planning and the possibility to get cheaper air fare. A project website will be developed and hosted at Statistics Denmark s website. An easy to use log frame on the project should be developed based on the work plan and the detailed time table developed by the RTA. 4

5 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 5 of 10 Deputy Project Leader should sign time sheets on behalf of Project Leader (to be checked with the NCP) Meeting between Danish project management and CAPMAS project management The Danish Project Management together with the RTA met with CAPMAS and the Project Administrative Office (PAO) at CAPMAS. The meeting was the Kick-Off seminar and was intended to officially present the three partners to each other as well as to discuss the cooperation, procedures and status of the work plan. In addition, the formal Kick-Off Event which is planned to take place on November 18, 2008 was discussed. The meeting served its purpose and enhanced the cooperation between partners. It is clear that all partners feel responsible for the success of the project and everyone agreed that a good cooperation is key to the success of the project. The following were agreed among all partners: Study visits must be no longer than the days and per diems listed in the budget which is 5 days of confrontation, 2 days of travel and 6 days per diem. However, everyone agreed that ideally it would have been beneficial for the participants to get a feeling of the culture of the country they are visiting. Study visits must be planned at least 2 months in advance to ensure that participants are identified and have time to apply for visa. The draft ToR should be submitted at least one month before the mission. Ideally no missions should be carried out during the same week. However, due to the fact that each year includes approx. 30 missions; that partner countries have different holidays as well as the tight time schedules of experts, this might be the case for some missions. If missions end up overlapping, they must not be related. The Kick-Off Events is planned for November 18. MS s list of invitees should be sent to Mr. Mohammed Morsy, who will draw up the final list of invitees, including participants from CAPMAS and PAO. MS will draft the agenda of the event. BS is responsible for contacting the media and for organising the logistic around the event. Meeting between Danish project management and the PAO in Egypt The Danish Project Management met with the PAO to discuss the cooperation between MS, PAO and RTA, as well as financial matters and reporting issues. The meeting was very productive particular as the budget was corrected and updated as a joint effort. The PAO also distributed a list of their interpretation of the financial section of the quarterly reports (see annex 4 to this report) which the Project Management will review. The following were agreed: The length of the project is 27 months and the actual implementation period in-country is 24 months. With every side letter submitted, MS needs to keep track on the budgetary changes for the PAO to get a quick overview of the budgetary implications. A matrix should be developed to get a quick overview (action, budget, no of side letter, budgetary changes). An addendum to be submitted will include the new budget (corrected per diems [euro150 per day], corrected subtotals, corrected fees for Sweden as a mandated body and a few other corrections in regard to number of per diem days), the changes made as per the first side letter as well as the agreement made with PAO that they will 5

6 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 6 of 10 manage the administration of the RTA assistant. Addendum to be submitted as soon as possible so the pre-instalment can be paid. (see addendum no 1) Financial reports should be submitted one week before Steering Committee meetings. PAO needs all experts CVs. MS will provide these. PAO will conduct a training session for BC Component Leaders and RTA Assistant on their role and how to work in EU Twinning projects. 3. Conclusions and recommendations Overall, the meetings served its purpose in creating the basis for a good future collaboration between all counterparts. Furthermore, important agreements were made (see above) and some specific outputs developed (the main one being the revision of the budget). 6

7 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 7 of 10 Annex 1. Terms of Reference Short-term mission to the Central Agency for Mobilisation and Statistics on Project start-up meeting (Technical Kick-off) Background CAPMAS and Statistics Denmark with partners from Statistics Sweden, Statistics Finland, Statistics Latvia and the Statistical Office of the Czech Republic have established a fruitful cooperation in the framework of Twinning. This twinning contract is EG/07/AA/F106. This activity is the initial mission to kick-off the project activities. Purpose of the mission The overall purpose of the mission is to ensure the good working relationship between the Danish project management and the CAPMAS project management as well as the Project Administration Office and the EU delegation in Egypt. The overall cooperation as well as concrete subjects will be discussed and agreed upon. Expected Results The expected result is to create consensus on cooperation between the primary stakeholders: CAPMAS, Statistics Denmark, PAO and EU delegation. In addition concrete issues like the formal kick-off event, the quarterly steering committee meetings, the work plan and the financial reporting are discussed. The long term objective is to make the project management and implementation as smooth as possible for the benefit of the project. Activities 6 October 2008 Meeting between RTA and Danish project management Status, financial matters, and cooperation within the Danish project management team and with our partners 7 October 2008 Meeting between Danish project management and CAPMAS project management Topics to be raised Introduction of participants Status of the work so far and outstanding issues in the work plan The formal Kick-off meeting (when, where, how) Quarterly Steering Committee meetings 7

8 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 8 of 10 The cooperation up till now and in the future Other business 8 October 2008 Meeting between Danish project management and the Project Administration Office (PAO) in Egypt Morning: PAO project management and EU delegation Topics to be raised Introduction of participants The cooperation between RTA, MS and PAO Afternoon: PAO financial officer Detailed discussions on financial matters and reporting Tasks to be done by CAPMAS to facilitate the mission The beneficiary will arrange meetings with relevant managers (both decision makers and statistical managers) as well as relevant stakeholders (external data suppliers and users). Consultant and counterpart The mission will be carried out jointly by: MS Project Leader Mr Søren Brodersen MS Deputy Project Leader Ms Charlotte Juul Hansen MS Financial Officer Ms Anja Løkken Stiil RTA Mr Peter Ottosen The beneficiary s counterpart will be BC Project Leader Dr Bahy Mortagy. From CAPMAS will also participate RTA counterpart, Eng. Elsayed Yasser Ragheb Various Component leaders From the PAO the participants will be Programme Deputy Director Ms Dalia M. Salem Project manager Ms Dina Kabeel Financial Officer Mr Mohamed Ali Mahmoud The EU delegation will participate as well. Timing The mission will be carried out during 6-8 October 2008 in Cairo. Report A final report from the mission should be made available not later than two weeks after the termination of the mission. 8

9 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 9 of 10 Annex 2. Programme for the mission 6 October 2008, Meeting between RTA and Danish project management Agenda Status, financial matters, and cooperation within the Danish project management team and with our partners 7 October 2008, Meeting with CAPMAS project management A: Kick-off meeting Agenda 1. Introduction of participants 2. Status of the work so far and outstanding issues in the work plan 3. The formal Kick-off meeting (when, where, how) 4. Quarterly Steering Committee meetings 5. The cooperation up till now and in the future 6. Any other business B: Meeting with the President of CAPMAS 8 October 2008, Meeting with PAO project management Agenda 1. Introduction of participants 2. The cooperation between RTA, MS and PAO 3. Financial matters 4. Reporting 5. Any other business 9

10 EG/07/AA/F106 Institutional capacity building for CAPMAS 10 of 10 Annex 3. Persons met CAPMAS: Project Leader Dr Bahy Mortagy RTA counterpart and Component leader, Eng. Mr Elsayed Yasser Ragheb (3. Increased statistics awareness) Component leader, Ms Effat Shoukry Mohamed (2. Organizational reform) Component leader (to replace Ms Effat) Mr Nabeel Hotey (2. Organizational reform) Component leader, Mr Bakr Soltan, (3. Improvement of statistical policy) Component leader, Mr Zeinab Gahrib Ibrahim (4. Improved IT functions) Component leader, Ms Awatef Hussein (5. Development of certain statistics) Responsible for external communication, Mr Mohammed Morsy, RTA, Mr. Peter Ottosen PAO Ms Dalia M. Salem, Programme Deputy Director Ms Dina Kabeel, Project manager Mr Mohamed Ali Mahmoud, Financial Officer Ms Nadia Mustafa, Assistant EU Ms Neveen Ahmed, Programme Manager 10