Twinning Project
Institutional capacity building through External Exchange Programs
Capacity Building of the Moldovan Agency for Intervention and Payment in Agriculture (AIPA) for the application of EU norms and standards for the administration of ARD support schemes.
Share knowledge, experience and success.
Overall objective: To support the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment (MARDE) in improving its financial capability and governance to implement the Agriculture and Rural Development Policy.
Project purpose:
Strengthening the institutional capacity of the Agency for Intervention and Payment in Agriculture to administer Agriculture and Rural Development support measures in line with EU norms and standards.
Objectives
Achieving goals through:
- Teamwork
- A clear understanding of the situation
- High-level political support
Component I
Elaboration of an organisational structure and legal basis for AIPA in line with EU requirements:
- Kick-off
- Seminar for high political level held
- Closing Event are organised and held
- Project quality assurance
- Legal basis for the implementation of all Paying Agency functions following the existing EU requirements drafted
- Organisational structure and chart of AIPA, taking into account EU requirements and best practice such as the separation of functions and segregation of duties designed
- Approved human resource strategy for AIPA (incl. staff planning, recruitment, training and appraisal) elaborated
- Job descriptions for all AIPA staff prepared
- ICT strategy and security policy for AIPA (including e.g. operation and service level agreement, helpdesk, Service-desk, IT objectives, technological concept, quality management and IT organisation), including wider connections with related responsible third parties (e.g. e-Government Centre or Ministry of ICT) elaborated
- Security measures related to the administrative, structure, staffing and technical environment of AIPA elaborated
Component II
Preparation of a Comprehensive documentation covering all the functions of AIPA:
- Written procedures, manuals, guidelines and checklists elaborated for the implementation of approved Rural Development (RD) measures following EU principles prepared
- Control Plans for the RD measure to ensure AIPA’s compliance with the management and control system requirements according to EU acquis elaborated
- Training needs analysis (TNA) of the necessary skills required by AIPA for implementation of RD measures in line with EU principles designed
- Training programme with workshops, seminars, on-the-job trainings and Study Tours for employees of AIPA, including a programme for the training of trainers (ToT) developed
- All AIPA staff trained to carry out their tasks according to the at least 3-4 newly elaborated written procedures for Rural Development support measures in line with EU norms and standards (pre investment principle)
Component III
Capacity building and INSTITUTION strengthening:
- AIPA´s internal audit unit strengthened to be in line with internationally accepted audit standards
- Risk identification and management framework updated
- Organisational performance objectives linked to the allocation of resources within AIPA elaborated/updated
- System for the identification, handling and resolution of irregularities and fraud designed
- System for the control and retention of documents within AIPA elaborated
- AIPA´s payment and accounting unit strengthened to be in line with internationally accepted accounting standards
- Participants for study visits identified and study visits conducted
Beneficiary:
The Moldavian Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture (AIPA)
Budget - 1,2 million euro.
Duration – 24 months
Partners:
The consortium consists of AgrarMarkt Austria
(Superior Partner) https://www.ama.at/
The State Agricultural Intervention Fund (SZIF) from Czech Republic
(Junior partner) http://www.szif.cz/
The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA) from Poland
(Junior partner) http://www.arimr.gov.pl