Technical Assistance to the Austrian Development Agency in the Western Balkans

The contract included strategic and technical advice to ADA and the support of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMeiA) in development policy and programmatic issues in the field of water and sanitation. The objective of the consulting services was to provide water supply and sanitation support in terms of poverty reduction and the UN Millennium Development Goals in partner countries of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).

The technical advice on water and sanitation assisted in the monitoring of ongoing relevant programs and the identification of new partners in the respective countries in terms of the overall objectives and principles. The consulted ensured that future ADA programs and projects in the water sector met all relevant criteria, such as program approach, coordination with donors in the international environment, regionalization of interventions, use of local expertise in planning and implementation, attention to gender issues, protection of natural resources, application of appropriate technologies, strengthening the awareness of users and the ability of operators to manage the infrastructure. Within this mandate, KPC was responsible for project preparation work (such as project identification and building a project pipeline), as well as for the overall supervision of implementation of the projects (procurement and construction supervision). Thus, one of the main activities was the monitoring and overall project management throughout the entire project cycle, from project identification to the planning, design and construction phase. The project documentation (feasibility studies, technical design, tender documents) were prepared by implementation consultants, whose work and outputs were managed and monitored by KPC.

KPC also assisted ADA in drafting and developing country strategies and water sector programmes. For example, a water sector strategy for Albania was developed by KPC, which then formed part of ADAs strategic planning process. Assistance was also provided in the field of Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development provided by ADA to its project partners like local water utilities, municipalities and state authorities.

More than 100 individual investment projects have been carried out within this framework contract.

Type of Services provided:

• Identification of environment-related infrastructure investment projects in the Western Balkans and assistance in building a project pipeline
• Drawing up the terms of reference and carrying out  the procurement  for the implementation Consultants
• Assistance to municipalities in implementing environmental infrastructure projects (support in tendering and supervision of works contracts) according to EU-standards
• Monitoring of the Implementation Consultant and the planning, design and construction phase
• Evaluation of completed investment projects and drafting of recommendations for optimizing the project implementation process
• Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development for local, regional and state actors in the water supply and sanitation sector
• Assistance in donor coordination and representing ADA at international meetings and conferences
• Assistance in the development of country and sector strategies
• Networking with national and international associations related to the water sector
• Support in strengthening sector capacities in the regional offices of the ADC

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