Team leader Rural Development Strategy

Country of assignment and location

Albanien, Tirana

Project / Field of activity

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the Government of Albania and the European Community was signed in June 2006. This project’s intervention field is in line with the objectives set out by this Agreement, in particular free movement of goods in the field of Agriculture and fisheries.

This project aims at improving the quality of life in rural areas by increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural and agro-food sector through diversification of rural economy in a well protected environment and natural landscape.

It will support to establish and strengthen the institutional and administrative capacities in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection to design, develop and implement the right policies and the appropriate supporting means for the development of agriculture and rural areas in the frame of EU pre-accession assistance programmes for the implementation of IPARD.

The project will focus on the components:
1) Improvement and Consolidation of the capacity of the beneficiary institution to
undertake intermediate policy analysis
2) Establish a basic Agricultural Information System (AIS)
3) Create an IPARD operating structure for the management of fund available
under component V of Instruments of Pre-Accession (IPA)

Responsibilities

The teamleader is responsible for the overall implementation of the project and for the special activities to be carried out in the following components:

Component 1: Improvement and Consolidation of the capacity of the beneficiary institution to
undertake intermediate policy analysis

• Assessment of needs in term of capacity for the analysis and formulation of rural policies in the context of EU assistance pre-accession programmes,
• Creation and consolidation of a separate Rural Policy Unit (RPU) in the Department of Policies and supporting structures in the regions,
• Training and further qualification of staff from the Rural Policy Unit in policy analysis,
• Development of the National Rural Development Strategy into regional level in synergy with sector and investment plans,
• Consultation of the regional Rural Development Plans with local community.

Component 2: Establish a basic Agricultural Information System (AIS)
• Assessment of existing agricultural information systems present in the country, their compatibility and data information gap,
• Develop the basic concept of AIS as an easy-managed and cost-efficient tool to provide the necessary information for policy analysis,
• Identify the agency responsible for the collection and management of data and train the staff,
• Transfer data from other sources to the AIS

Component 3: Create an IPARD operating structure for the management of fund available
under component V of IPA
• Define the IPARD operating structure along with functions and tasks,
• Revise and if necessary prepare the necessary legal and institutional framework to support the creation and functioning of the structure,
• Select staff and train them in relation to functions and tasks,
• Develop procedures and tools in accordance with Albanian public finance legislation for the implementation, sound financial management and control of operations,
• Define the procedures and carry out the national accreditation of the structure,
• Define the ICT needs in terms of equipment and training

Component 4: ICT infrastructure designed and established
• Support to the procurement, installation and training on the ICT hardware and software.

Qualifications

 Qualifications and Skills
• University graduate degree in economics, agriculture, finance
• Excellent command of both written and spoken English,
• Full computer literacy.

General Professional Experience
• Minimum 10 years of working experience relevant to the assignment,
• Minimum 5 years of experience in Financial Control or equivalent years of experience in a management role dealing with EU structural/pre-accession funds,
• Experience with Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would be considered an asset

Specific Professional Experience
• Experience in preparing National Funds to accreditations for the management of EU funds, developing systems and procedures for pre-accession funds, developing procedures for pre-accession funds including SAPARD and / or IPARD,
• Experience in a minimum of one project in the context of accreditation to the management of EU funded programmes under a decentralised system,
• Experience in a SAPARD accreditation would be an asset

Duration

24 months starting approx. in April / May 2009

Application deadline

28.02.2009