Our projects

A Residue Control Plan is a crucial component in the implementation of Council Directive 96/23/EC. This directive outlines measures for monitoring certain substances and residues in live animals and animal products with the aim of protecting public health and consumer interests. A Residue Control Plan is a tool used by Member States to fulfil their obligations under this directive. The Plan – including commodity data, sampling levels and frequencies, and the substances and substance groups proposed for laboratory control, identified products and residue groups, and standards for analysis and laboratories – provides the necessary details and procedures to ensure the directive's objectives are met in practice, contributing to the protection of public health and consumer interests in the EU.

In order to promote the rural and economic development of the TCc and the alignment of the region’s mechanisms with the EU acquis, there is a need to support local bodies in the area with the implementation of the Residue Control Plan; specifically, by implementing sampling and testing activities in accordance with EU regulations. This includes:

European Union Budget Support in Tajikistan

The European Union (EU) has been cooperating with Tajikistan in the field of development since 1991, in a variety of sectors such as rule of law and good governance, health and education, water, energy, and rural development. Most recently, this development cooperation has been focused on three priority areas as defined by the latest Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for 2021-2027: 1) Inclusive Green and Digital Economy, 2) Human development and 3) Natural resources management, efficiency, and resilience. In particular, Specific Objective 4 of the MIP seeks to “improve the relevance and quality of the general secondary education and vocational education and training (VET) for better employability and labour market integration”, with three expected results:

• R4.1) Improved governance, evidence-based policy making and public finance management (PFM) of the education sector;

• R4.2) Improved learning outcomes for female learners and persons with disabilities; and

• R2.3) Improved labour market integration with a focus on youth, women and returnee migrants through innovation and digitalisation.

This request for services specifically targets the TVET and Employment Sector Reform Contract, a budget support programme that addresses these three results, as well as the key challenges for the education and employment sectors identified in the National Development Strategy 2016-2030. It is also in line with the EU Global Gateway, as it seeks to foster the green and digital sectors.

Relevant Employment and Vocational Education and Training Background

As stated by the Tajikistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “investing in the young generation is essential to achieving long-term economic growth, social cohesion and sustainable development”. The Budget Support programme strongly focuses on improving the employability of youth, women, and returnee migrants, and raising employment in critical sectors: agriculture, energy, green and digital industries.

Tajikistan, a landlocked, mostly mountainous country, indeed has a high share of youth in its population, who are increasingly entering the labour market (more than 50% of able-bodied persons are under the age of 25). However, despite its GDP growth averaging 7% when not slowed by the covid-19 pandemic, Tajikistan does not see enough job creation. 27.4% of the population lives below the national poverty line, and the National Development Strategy (NDS) links this poverty to a lack of access to productive employment: 41% of the population is self-employed, and 28% works in State Owned Enterprises (SOE) or for the Government. The activity rate of 59% also hides very strong gender disparities, with the women activity rate barely reaching 45.5% against 73.3% for men (2017). The unemployment rate is estimated for 2020 (ILO) at 7.5%, although many do not register with the employment services, or have seasonal employment in the agriculture sector – so this number is likely higher.

It is worth noting that state expenditure in education has been increasing steadily since 2000, but financial needs continue gradually increasing. Both the National Development Strategy and the National Strategy for Education Development (NSED 2021-2030) point out that the issue is less so in the access to education than its relevance and quality. For TVET, there is a strong need to work more closely with the private sector and match TVET with labour market needs.

Key challenges and weaknesses in TVET as identified in Tajikistan’s National Strategy for Education Development (NSED) include:

• The infrastructure and availability of proper learning and teaching equipment and materials in most initial VET institutions is limited and needs updating;

• There is a shortage of qualified teachers across all levels of education; and the management of the education sector is hindered by a lack of results-based planning, monitoring systems, and weak PFM.

Relevant Public Finance Management Background

PFM is a key pillar in the EU SRPC for VET and Employment, not only as a general condition for EU Budget Support, but also within the education sector in Tajikistan, to better be able to respond to the gradual increase in financial needs for the sector.

PFM in Tajikistan is driven by the NDS, which outlines national priorities in the areas of PFM such as program budgeting, linking the budget process with strategic planning, tax administration, fiscal decentralisation and transparency and accountability; and by the PFM Reform Strategy (PFMRS 2030), with the following priority areas:

1. strengthen the framework of macroeconomic forecasting and revenue projections;

2. improve public investment planning, strengthen internal control and audit;

3. increase revenue mobilisation;

4. implement public procurement reforms;

5. strengthen external scrutiny and parliamentary oversight of the budget.

Progress in the implementation of the PFMRS is slow, and the capacity for data collection and monitoring of this progress is limited. The PEFA (2022) assessment indicates that 10 out of 31 PEFA performance indicators showed improvement compared to the 2017 exercise, and concludes that overall, the PFM environment has improved in the five years between 2017 and 2022. This partly justifies that, whilst Budget Support to Tajikistan was suspended in 2018 due to the lack of achievement / progress with the eligibility criteria, it has now been restarted.

The overall objective of this assignment is to provide a detailed review and assess the progress in the implementation of the TVET and Employment SRPC against the general conditions and the targets of the performance indicators, to enable the EU to use the outcomes of the reviews for decisions on the disbursement of the 2nd and 3rd fixed tranches and the 1st to 3rd variable tranches. The EU takes a final decision on disbursement, taking into account the external verification report.

To conduct one review mission annually during the fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026 for the disbursement of the fixed and variable instalments:

• The first review mission will verify compliance with conditions attached to the release of the 2nd fixed and 1st variable tranches (€4 million and €6 million, respectively), indicatively scheduled for Quarter 2 of 2024.

• The second review mission will verify compliance with conditions attached to the release of the 3rd fixed and 2nd variable tranches (€4 million and €6 million, respectively), indicatively scheduled for Quarter 2 of 2025.

The Republic of Armenia has been through a period of political changes, COVID-19 restrictions, hostilities, immigration and internal displacement, and economic decline and growth. Despite this situation of flux, the Government of Armenia (GOA) continues to commit to a series of ambitious reforms relating to modernisation, education, democratisation, transitional justice, the constitutional court, and the environment, as part of the Armenia Transformation Strategy 2050, which lays out the Armenian State’s long-term socio-economic, educational and human development objectives for the next 30-year period.

A signatory to the Paris Agreement since 2016, the GOA aims to rectify environmental issues in the country, such as the over-exploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, illegal logging, and poor management of water resources and waste. The GOA has since confirmed its Nationally Determined Contribution, its approach to climate-related decision-making, and solidified this within its National Adaptation Plan (NAP), which outlines the general objective and vision of Armenia’s NAP process: “to promote the reduction and management of climate risks in Armenia”, and ensure that sectors considered vulnerable to climate – natural ecosystems, water, agriculture, health, human settlements, and tourism – will integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The European Union (EU) supports, or will support, these efforts and the implementation of the NAP. The NDICI-Global Europe sets budget targets for climate and biodiversity-related actions, which have been incorporated within the early draft Annual Action Programme (AAP) 2023 for Armenia. The three key pillars of the AAP include i) investing in green technologies for SMEs; ii) promoting economically sustainable use of natural resources; and iii) building local partnerships for climate-smart local development. Our assignment will support the development of programming under these key priorities, through delivery of technical assistance to the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia (EUD).

The global objective of the assignment is to provide technical assistance (TA) to the programming development of EU-funded actions, with a focus on green growth, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development. In delivering this objective, the team will specifically assist the EU Delegation to Armenia (EUD) and the Government of Armenia (GOA) in the identification and formulation of future programmes, including providing expertise to further stakeholders’ understanding of how to progress

Healthy coastal ecosystems provide natural protective services and a first line of defense for coastal cities, communities and infrastructure, as well as other valuable ecosystem services. Well maintained coral reefs, for example, can absorb up to 97% of wave energy, and provide critical ecosystem services such as nurseries and feeding grounds for fisheries, providing coastal protection, and securing an important food supply for many coastal communities.

The health of these ecosystems is, however, rapidly declining. Preventing (and reversing) this decline requires a number of interventions, including (a) building the case for effective coral reef protection, restoration and sustainable management by defining the range of ecosystem goods and services they provide and quantifying the environmental, social and economic risks associated with their damage, (b) implementing strong policies and governance approaches to underpin their protection, restoration and sustainable management and (c) deploying sustainable financing and risk management systems to address climate change related hazards.

Funding from the Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACliFF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is supporting the implementation of this project; Output 4 of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Technical Assistance (TA) on Building Coastal Resilience through Nature Based and Integrated Solutions.

The project will be undertaken in selected high opportunity sites across the four countries, with the ambition to further replicate across the region, contributing to ADB's longer-term TA goal of (by 2030): $100 million of funding mobilised, with 600,000 people benefitting from improved livelihood opportunities as a result, and 200,000 people benefitting from the coastal resilience service (e.g. against storms) that coral reefs bring.

This multi-stakeholder project aims to identify, recommend and demonstrate the applicability of coral reef finance, insurance and risk management models and approaches in targeted, high-opportunity sites in four countries namely Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines, and Solomon Islands, towards increasing the climate resilience of coastal businesses, communities and their livelihoods. The project will include targeted research, assessment, preparation and knowledge sharing towards delivering technical and policy advice for the implementation of innovative coral reef financing and insurance model(s). As such, the project will focus on:

Specific objectives of the contract are to reinforce the EU’s strategic communication goals and increase understanding, awareness and appreciation of the EU; and to reinforce the EU’s role as Nigeria’s strategic partner in development.

The activities carried out under the contract span a range of cross-cutting thematic areas, including education and science, political dialogue, culture, economic diplomacy and gender.

​The overall objective of the project is to foster trust and mutual understanding between the EU and Jamaica by strengthening the EU’s ability to meaningfully engage with different local audiences, stakeholders, influencers and potential partners and develop new partnerships to support advancing EU policy priorities in the country.

Specific objectives of the contract are to increase awareness and showcase the EU added value on the EU specific programmes, projects and initiatives in Jamaica; promote the EU as a strong and reliable partner in good and bad times; engage with Jamaica’s citizens, multipliers, influencers and partners to foster understanding of EU values, objectives, and actions and build trust by developing networks and new alliances.

The specific target groups for the contract the Jamaican public, political leaders, academics and think tanks, youth, media and influencers, civil society and community groups, private sector and economic agents, and cultural operators.

Tajikistan is heavily reliant on agriculture for employment and subsistence; agriculture accounts for 20% of the national GDP and 30% of exports. About 51% of the population, and 69% of female employment, is engaged in the sector, although women are disproportionately employed in agricultural labor rather than managerial positions and therefore have limited access to decision making in the sector. Tajikistan has abundant water resources, with an annual water availability of 7,649 cubic meters per capita. However. its mountainous geography limits the total arable land area to just 7% of the total land area. Subsequently, the country is heavily dependent on imported food and agricultural commodities.

The government’s approach to national economic and social development is outlined in the National Development Strategy 2030, where it looks to transition from “an agrarian-industrial based economy” to an “industrial-agrarian based economy.” From now until 2030, dramatic growth in the service sector and industrial employment is anticipated. These two sectors are expected to employ 75%–80% of the labor force by 2030, with agriculture’s share shrinking to 20%–25%, or about half of the 2016 level. To facilitate this shift, agriculture must become vastly more efficient and productive to provide increased output with a greatly reduced labor force. This transition will require a more efficient irrigated agriculture sector. More than 90% of agriculture production in Tajikistan is from irrigated lands, while irrigation withdrawals constitute about 85% of national water resource use.

The country is drained by two transboundary rivers: the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the north. The Vakhsh river is a major tributary of the Amu Darya contributing about 29% of its total flow. The Vakhsh River Basin is key to (irrigated) agricultural production in Tajikistan, and the Yovon scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the basin. The Yovon scheme engineering infrastructure comprises: (i) Main-Branch Canals and associated structures, (ii) Pumping Systems, (iii) Secondary-Tertiary Distribution Systems, (iv) Drainage Systems, (v) Escape/ spill mudflow channels, (vi) Inspection-Farm Roads, and (vii) Field systems.

Significant upgrades need to be made to some of the scheme’s infrastructure – the remote main system flow monitoring has totally failed, and most of the gates can no longer be easily operated, even manually. The secondary and tertiary systems are arguably in an even worse condition.

The technical assistance (TA) on Support to Operation and Maintenance and Financial Sustainability of Water Resources Infrastructure is attached to the Climate and Disaster Resilient Irrigation and Drainage Modernization in the Vakhsh River Basin Project. The project financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will modernize prioritized components of the Yovon system. It will increase the capacities of the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation (ALRI) and water users’ associations (WUAs) on infrastructure management and water use efficiency. Women farmers will be targeted in all activities. The project will also increase climate and disaster resilience, water and agricultural productivity, and farmer’s incomes through two outputs: (i) climate adaptive and gender-responsive management and operation of I&D systems strengthened, and (ii) policy strengthened for sustainable water management.

The scope of TA work comprises the development, testing and operationalization of a digital asset and financial management system (AFMS) for the Yovon unit of ALRI and the relevant ALRI unit at the headquarters and to train the ALRI staff in managing the system. The AFMS should include all infrastructural elements of the system from intake to drainage and outlets and comprises all financial flows at local, provincial, and central level including operation, maintenance and repair, and replacement budgets as well as subsidies and payments for services by different groups or organizations. The AFMS will also be used for WUAs where necessary with the support of the Union of WUAs, and/or the Yovon unit of ALRI.

The TA team and three individual consultants hired directly by ADB will coordinate their activities with ALRI and with the Project Implementation Group (PIG) of the Climate and Disaster Resilient Irrigation and Drainage Modernization in the Vakhsh River Basin Project, and will work together with the project implementation consultant (PIC) on relevant technical, institutional, and financial issues.

In addition, the TA consultant team contract will include a provision of supporting studies and survey sub-contracts, which will be engaged and supervised by the TA consultant team. Results and findings of the supporting studies and surveys will be incorporated and/or consolidated in the TA consultant team’s outputs. Expected surveys and data provision include:

(i) Detailed GPS-based irrigation asset survey of the Yovon unit project area;

(i) Provision of asset data in georeferenced GIS format with detailed GIS metadata; and

(ii) Provision of asset financial details and parameters for financial asset management.

The purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the performance of the project “Protected Areas and Climate Change Resilience” during its implementation period, from 06/13/2016 to 08/12/2022. This will be achieved through an in-depth and as exhaustive as possible examination of the level and quality of the achievement of results with regard to these objectives and the national and regional context (performance of the program with a focus on gender and human rights). The evaluation also makes it possible to take the measure of certain impacts, to assess the relevance of the approaches applied and the durability of the expected effects, as well as to note certain possible related effects.

Evaluation aims to resolve particular questions (introduced by the evaluation questions) following a systematic and objective process whose aim is to provide information on what works and what does not work, what favors or hinders achievement of the specific objective. The knowledge thus capitalized makes it possible to contribute to improving the effectiveness of aid for development, in direct connection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as to integrate lessons learned, conclusions and recommendations. experience to guide future interventions.

Water is critical to the Afghanistan economic recovery. Water-dependent sectors (mainly agriculture) account for at least 27 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and agriculture remains the primary source of livelihoods for 70 percent of the population. But Afghanistan is experiencing a water crisis because of decades of underinvestment in water infrastructure and services and weak sector institutions. A national drought was officially declared in June 2021, with 79 percent of the households reporting insufficient water for their daily needs. Groundwater and surface water levels are depleted following two consecutive drought years.

Water supply and sanitation services in Afghanistan are inadequate and the country is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Only 67 percent of Afghanistan’s population has access to basic drinking water services, dropping to just 33 percent in rural regions. Only 43 percent of Afghans have access to basic sanitation services. Poor water and sanitation services in the three largest cities of Afghanistan – Kabul, Kandahar and Herat – are a particular concern due to these cities’ high share of the country’s urban population (66 percent). At present, all three water systems are exclusively supplied from groundwater, requiring energy intensive pumping. The remainder of the population which is not connected to the piped network also relies predominantly on groundwater, tapping into the unconfined shallow aquifers with private wells. Moreover, water quality is a considerable concern as the shallow aquifers are subject to contamination from surface drainage and untreated wastewater. Wastewater collection is non-existent.

Reliable year-round water resources are crucial for farmers as agricultural sector is an extremely important sector in the economy. It makes up more than a quarter of the country's GDP, but even more importantly it is a major source of employment. Despite the importance of the sector to the economy, only 32 percent of the arable land irrigated (2.5 million ha out of 7.8 million ha in 2020). More than 15% of Afghanistan’s irrigated land gets water from traditional underground systems such as Karezes (Qanats) , springs and shallow wells (locally called as Arhads).

Even though most of the domestic and other livelihood needs in urban and rural Afghanistan are being met through utilization of groundwater resources, knowledge on groundwater issues in Afghanistan is sparse as data availability and use remains scattered and limited. However, while uncertainties remain because of the paucity of data, available information suggests a significant potential for groundwater utilization in Afghanistan and could be an important resource as an adaptation mechanism to variable surface water availability due to climate change if managed properly. Given its high potential, detailed study and planning of these resources in combination with appropriate regulation and control mechanisms are needed for its sustainable management.

Budget support was the main modality of EU assistance to Morocco between 2013 and 2022. This modality allows both to increase the government's budgetary room for manoeuvre, and to strengthen the practices of dialogue between the EU and the Moroccan administration, as well as within this administration itself, which can suffer from its compartmentalization.

The action concerned by this project is part of the EU-Morocco green partnership, the first partnership signed within the framework of the EU Green Pact. The objective is enhanced cooperation and dialogue to advance the energy transition, protect the environment and stimulate the green economy. This directly follows the joint political declaration adopted in June 2019 by the EU-Morocco Association Council, which underlined the importance of prioritizing cooperation in the fields of energy, the fight against global warming, the protection of environment and promoting the green economy.