•Why?

•Aim and Focus?

•Concrete Improvements proposed?

EU Support for Sustainable Change in Transition Societies

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development-policies/documents/communication_transition_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/development-policies/documents/travail_service_conjoint_part1_v7_en.pdf

Prague Technical Workshop

Sharing Knowledge and Transition Experience for Development – the view

of New European Donors

Sharon Zarb – European Commission (DG EuropeAid)

Structure of the Presentation

• I. Introduction to Capacity Development and Knowledge Exchange

• II. Knowledge-Sharing Platforms• III. Twinning, TAIEX, SIGMA• IV. Conclusion

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What is Capacity Development ? Capacity Development (CD) is:

-- a key driver of aid and development effectiveness

-- an endogenous process that needs to be owned

-- catalysed by incentives and the quality of the learning process

Many ways of supporting CD :

Capacity Development

Budget Support

Technical assistance

Facili-tation

Knowledge Exchange

If Capacity Development support is successful, it creates an exit opportunity from the traditional aid relationship speeding up institutional development

Knowledge exchange and Capacity Development

Capacity Development relies on Knowledge Exchange at two levels:

• Capacity Development is about change, and change is not linear. A more systematic approach to capture and share knowledge on Capacity Development should be promoted.

• Sharing knowledge has a transformational effect, at various

levels. For example, promoting citizen participation through IT technologies can be one of the most transformational forms of Capacity Development.

II. EU Knowledge-Sharing Platforms:

a)Capacity4Dev http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu

b) The European Transition Compendium (ETC) www.eutransition.eu

capacity4dev.eu: EU’s Knowledge Sharing Platform on Development

Fast Facts5900+ Professionals from all over the world 2200+ staff (EC/EEAS)3700+ from Private Cos, CSOs, Government, Donors etc280+ Knowledge pieces9000+ Posts in200+ Groups

Capacity4dev.eu:CD through Knowledge Sharing!

• Consolidate knowledge and build Institutional Memory

• Support Thematic Expertise, break down the silos

• Support good practice and innovation exchange / help identify specialists

• Cross-learning among practitioners from EC, EEAS, MS, Donors, International Organisations, private sector, CSOs, Governments, Academia…

Capacity4dev.euWhat is offered: • Access to a large community of practitioners from across the

world• Over 280 knowledge pieces (Voices and Views) on a great variety

of themes backed with video and references updated weekly• Fully fledged free Groupware for the development community:

Public or Private groups with: Group site, Blog, full document library, events, survey tool, project management tool, group chat, members rooster, powerful search

• Peer support functionality: help from the community• Your profile page, mail notifications, personal recommendations • Secure hosting (EC Infrastructure)

www.capacity4dev.eu/contactor capacity4dev@ec.europa.eu

help and guidance www.capacity4dev.eu/help

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'Millions of Europeans, including me, grew up not knowing how it felt to live in an open society, with

freedoms and opportunities… So our readiness to help partner countries along the path towards better

governance is no hollow sentiment. Sharing experiences and good practice can only be of benefit

to all concerned...'

Quote from Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development at the Opening Ceremony of European

Development Days 2011

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www.eutransition.eu

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ETC: Expertise by sector…and by country

Contact:

sharon.zarb@ec.europa.eu

III. Twinning, TAIEX, SIGMA

Twinning

• Why? Initially designed to help EU-acceding countries to absorb aquis communautaire

• Who? Public administrations of a Member State + Neighbourhood Beneficiary country

• How? Commitment of two project leaders in respective administrations; full-time work for min. 12 months in corresponding public administration of partner country; twinning manual

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One example of a Twinning Success Story

• Support to Milli Mejlis (Parliament) of the Republic of Azerbaijan

• Twinning Partner: Office of the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania

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Find out more on Twinning...• EuropeAid website – Boosting co-operation through Twinning:

• http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/overview/twinning_en.htm

•  EuropeAid Publication - Boosting Twinning Co-operation in the Neighbouring Countries:

• http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/overview/documents/twinning_en.pdf

• http://www.enpi-info.eu/files/publications/twinning_en.pdf

•  

• Institution building in the framework of EU policies – Common Twinning Manual:

• English version: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/overview/documents/20121011-twinning-manual-2012_en.pdf

• Contact:

• European Commission DEVCO F4:• EuropeAid-TWINNING-OPERATIONS@ec.europa.eu

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Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX)

• Why? To rapidly mobilize public and tailor-made short-term technical assistance to support partner countries' public administrations

• Who? Institutions and organisations that play a role in partner countries to help in the approximation/implementation/enforcement of EU legislation

• How? Demand-driven – reaction upon request sent by a partner administration in neighbourhood region

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Find out more about TAIEX

• EuropeAid webpage TAIEX: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/overview/taiex_en.htm 

• Applications: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex/beneficiaries/warning_authorisation_en.htm

• Contact: EuropeAid-TAIEX-OPERATIONS@ec.europa.eu

•  

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Support for Improvement in Governance and Management

(SIGMA)• Why? Joint initiative of OECD + EU – financed

principally by EU; SIGMA = self-explanatory• Who? Central agencies responsible for horizontal

management systems of government; active in 11 neighbourhood countries

• How? Demand-driven – demand for activities being framed within European Neighbourhood ad Partnership action plans and national indicative programmes.

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Find out more on SIGMA

• Find out more...•  Website: http://www.oecd.org/site/sigma/ •  EuropeAid webpage:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/overview/index_en.htm

•   Contact: http://www.oecd.org/site/sigma/contactus/•  

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IV. Conclusion

EuropeAid website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

Thank you!