Institutional Support to the Office in Charge of the Management of EU Cooperation Programmes

Detailed description of project Back

The European Union is the major donor in Burkina Faso with support being granted through the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th European Fund for Development (EDF), regional programmes, as well as within the framework of STABEX, SYSMIN, Structural Adjustment Fund and the International European Bank. Furthermore, the EU provides support to different budget lines including food security, co-financing with NGOs, democracy and human rights.

Although efforts have been made to limit the large scale of cooperation programmes, EU support covers at least ten sectors and there exists a substantial gap between the commitment and the disbursement rate, especially under the 8^th EDF. (The support given under the 7^th and the 8^th EDF involves important activities over the next 4 or 5 years.)

In Burkina Faso, the task of National Authorizing Officer (NAO) is entrusted to the Minister of Finance and Budget. His substitutes are the General Director of Cooperation and the Director of Multilateral Cooperation. Within the Directorate General for Cooperation (DG-COOP), the Directorate for Multilateral Cooperation is in charge of the planning and management of the aid for community development. The latter is not performing optimally due to:

• Inadequate working conditions (lack of facilities and organisation), which limits the management efficiency of the aid for community development
• The absence of good performing organisational tools as well as the lack of dialogue and follow-up between the national administration, the projects and the ECD
• The weight of financial activities within the NAO office, to the detriment of the coordination and evaluation of the strategy of cooperation of programmes and projects.

The global objective of this project, therefore, is to improve the efficiency of aid for community development in order to enhance its impact on the national economy and on its beneficiaries.

The specific objectives of the technical assistance consist of:

• A sustainable growth of the efficiency of the NAO services
• A sustainable growth in its capacity to enhance the implementation of the projects financed under the EDF.

Type of services provided

PROMAN provides the services of one international expert (39 m/m) in order to:

• Reinforce the capacities of the cooperation actors with regards to the conception, planning and follow-up of EDF programmes and projects;
• Install an institutional management device for a structured, operational and practical mechanism of aid to community development;
• Reorganise the internal administration of the NAO office so as to improve its institutional capacities to facilitate and coordinate the effective and efficient implementation of EDF programmes and projects.

PROMAN further provides the services of a pool of short-term expertise (28.5 m/m) in the following sectors:

• Socio-economic development
• Economy of transports
• Rural development
• Health
• Basic education
• Public finances
• Accountancy
• Human resources development
• Information Technology

PROMAN ensures backstopping of the project through field visits, logistics, quality control of reports and services.