minutes
Seventh Meeting IPS SG
Date: 19/06/2008
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Venue: Council of Ministers
Participants:
Ardi Stoiosbraken Dutch Embassy
Camille Nuamah World Bank
Greta Minxhozi World Bank
Sheila Bramley British Embassy/DfID
Arben Qesku British Embassy/DfID
Giovanni Serritela European Commission
Linda Gjermani SIDA
Martina Pino Italian Cooperation
Dan Redford OSCE
Arben Rama UNDP
Nevila Como DTS
AlbanaVokshi DSDC
Valbona Kuko DSDC
Sherefedin Shehu MoF
Mirsa Titka MoF
Blerta Selenica DoPA
Alma Marku DSDC
Nevila Xhindi DSDC
Azeta Xhafka DSDC
Oriana Arapi DSDC
The meeting was opened by Deputy Minister of Finance, Sherefedin Shehu who welcomed the participants to the seventh meeting of the IPS SG and presented the meeting agenda.
The DSDC Director, Albana Vokshi, presented GoA’s progress and achievements on the IPS during 2007 and until June 2008 as well as future challenges and steps. The first topic of the presentation was the overview of what has been completed during 2007 regarding IPS: IPS components were operational; supporting political and administrative structures were in place; SPC continues to play a vital role in providing direction to IPS; GSBI increasingly engaged in IPS processes; NSDI and sector/crosscutting strategies were consulted with a broad audience of stakeholders; IPS calendar approved annually by SPC; Donors continue to support the IPS process; Commitment to the understanding of IPS to ministries is increasing.
Mrs. Vokshi also explained the preparatory work and progress to date on the IPS Trust Fund, as well as other relevant issues related to the implementation of the Trust Fund. One topic of interest to donors remains the DSDC staffing. Mrs. Vokshi pointed out that DSDC is fully staffed with clear division of responsibilities. The names of the DSDC coordinators and the functions of each of them will soon be published on the website so donors and other interesting parties know who to contact in the near future. Mrs. Vokshi also pointed out that a change had been made in the staffing pattern of DSDC, in which the Donor Coordination Unit has been established and Mrs. Valbona Kuko is the Director of this Unit, and will be the main contact point for donors. This unit is fully staffed as well. In addition, the World Bank PIU (funded by GoA) is staffed and operational.
Despite these achievements, there are still some gaps which GoA is trying to address:
EI commitments could be better reflected in IPS processes; External Assistance management needs to be better integrated with Public Investment management; Delays in information systems (EAMIS and IPSIS); Five strategies have been delayed in preparation; Donor coordination procedures not yet approved.
Mrs. Vokshi also presented the SPC schedule for 2008 and key processes and products for monitoring NSDI, MTBP, EI and External Assistance. She informed the audience that the NSDI and EAOD documents are being published and will be ready and distributed to everyone very soon. Mrs. Vokshi emphasised that the main focus of the DSDC for 2008 remains on the implementation and Monitoring and Evaluation of NSDI. She mentioned that the NSDI Progress Report for 2006-2007 is under the preparation. It will follow all the necessary structures and will be sent out/published by September 2008. At the end she mentioned that the DSDC has had an excellent cooperation with the DTS, but still remains to be done toward better donor-government coordination.
The meeting was followed by Deputy Minister Shehu. He explained the GoA’s progress with the IPS TF. His presentation was focused in the work that was done to draft the ToRs for the TF packages; procedures and financial management; project management explaining the levels of monitoring: the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) and Government Modernisation Committee (GMC) at the highest level, then the Intergovernmental Working Group for IPS implementation and the Implementing Directory in the MoF which is directly responsible for the implementation of TF activities, etc. It was pointed out that the focus of the MoF and DSDC is improvement of monitoring systems.
The director of CFCU in MoF, Mirsa Titka, continued the presentation focusing on the capacity building and support to implement IPS. She gave an overview of the procurement plan; categories and activities included in it (25 in total); packages to be procured in the 2008; the process of ToRs preparation; disbursement proceedings and forecast.
The WB Country Director, Camille Nuamah, explained the relevance and importance of the Operations Manual (OM) to donors, government actors, as well as to the future progress of the TF. WB requested from DSDC and MoF to insist on having all the planned ToRs being drafted in due time without any delays. WB has assigned a team to work on the drafted ToRs and comment in due time. The process has been slow until now, but an important corner has been turned and it is expected to move faster. With regards to disbursement estimates, the WB will work out in order to satisfy donor specific requests; it is a good time for donors to supply their specific requests if their funds need to be disbursed fast.
The WB Senior Country Operations Officer, Greta Minxhozi, expressed her personal satisfaction for the process of OM preparation. She said that the WB will continue to work closely and monitor on daily basis. Mrs. Minxhozi mentioned that WB has reviewed only one ToR so far and gave no objection. On all procedures related to IPS TF, WB will abide by the IPS TF document and the OM only. She pointed out that WB guarantees donors speedy operations. Also, she informed that a supervision mission is planned to come on September to supervise the work done so far and invited the donors to participate in this mission.
Comments and discussions
§ The representative from the Embassy of the Netherlands, Mrs. Stojosbraken, raised the concern of the difference in disbursement level between the figures mentioned in presentation and those in the grant agreement of the TF.
- Mrs. Minxhozi explained that in accordance with the WB regulations, only 80% of the disbursed amount has been included, this includes the amount already available (only the packages that can be guaranteed). On the other hand, not all the funds have been disbursed; upon receiving the remaining contributions from Swiss and Italy, an amendment to the grant agreement will be made.
§ Mrs. Stoiosbraken also asked for an explanation on how the delays in the TF have affected the whole process approved initially and the original IPS document.
- Mrs. Nuamah explained that the IPS document produced in 2006 was very broad, it did not provide any details on what each of its components included, there was only a list of them but did not specify in which percentage they would be supported. This has been improved by the OM which provides details on initially approved components. Now, the components are easy to monitor and report upon. The initially approved components have not changed, there are more detailed. ToRs will bring more clarity to the process (the results framework included in the OM might not have this level of clarity). The IPS is a process and always has potential for improvements. Mrs. Nuamah also mentioned that the IPS TF will not finance Information Systems but will only provide TA to strengthen TA of Treasury Department in the MoF.
- Mrs. Vokshi explained that what has changed is only the percentage of money allocated to each component. E.g., the percentage of money going to NSDI is smaller due to GoA progress on its components during the delay period of the TF. DSDC will focus on capacity building for monitoring and evaluation in the components of line ministries.
- Mr. Shehu reinforced the fact that the Procurement Plan components are the same ones as the components initially approved in the IPS TF document but since this document allows for flexibility, GoA and WB have worked together to make the components more detailed for easy monitoring and reporting.
- Mrs. Minxhozi explained that although it took some time to go through all the details needed to prepare the OM, at the end, it was worth the while because these details will allow for easier work progress of the TF in the future. Nowadays, all the actors have greater ownership and clarity on the procurement plan and the TF.
§ Another concern raised by Mrs. Stoiosbraken was the participation of the Ministry of Integration in the process, pointing out that there were no representatives from the MEI at this meeting.
§ The representative from DfID, Arben Qesku, asked about the role that Civil Society is planned to play in the NSDI monitoring and evaluation process. Mr. Qesku asked if the the DfID proposal on National Advisory Group (NAG) had been taken into consideration to be included into the NSDI M&E process.
- Mrs. Vokshi explained the broad consultative process that NSDI has gone through, including involvement of the Civil Society. She also mentioned the project launched by GoA for Civil Society which will strengthen the role of Civil Society in GoA’s major decision making during the NSDI monitoring phase, to begin one year after NSDI approval. A law about Civil Society involvement is under preparation.
§ Mrs. Nuamah asked for more clarity on:
1. External Assistance management procedures component and what does it involve.
- Mrs. Vokshi explained that last year GoA has drafted a regulation on EA in order to coordinate the tasks and define responsibilities of DSDC, MoF and MIE with regards to EA management. However, the approval of the Organic Budget Law has delayed the process.
2. Role of the Interministerial working group (IWG)
- Mrs. Vokshi explained the role of IWG as an internal coordinating body not only to monitor GoA implementation of TF components but also the IPS process in general. It includes the deputy ministers from the key LMs (Education, Health, METE, MEI), and is co-chaired by DSDC Director (A. Vokshi) and the Deputy Minister of Finance (Sh. Shehu).
3. Usage of e-procurement for publications.
- She pointed out that e-procurement was assessed to be sufficient for WB standards and as such is recommended to be used for publishing the advertisements for different procurements.
§ In addition, Mrs. Stoiosbraken requested information about the Public Administration Strategy, its preparation and consultation process.
- DoPA Director, Blerta Selenica explained that the Public Administration Strategy is being completed. It will follow the same consultation procedure as the other strategies. In addition, in a conference (to be organised by the WB) DoPA will present the paper on Civil Service.
- Deputy Minister Shehu pointed out that the PM has placed a high importance to turning TIPA into the institute for all trainings, including the ones planned under the IPS as well as the ones organised by donors.
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