EU-funded project “Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacities of CFCU Montenegro for Management and Implementation of EU Funds”, worth €280,000 successfully completed

The EU-funded project, “Technical Assistance for Strengthening the Capacities of CFCU Montenegro for Management and Implementation of EU Funds”, worth €280,000, has been successfully completed, improving the unit’s capacity to deliver vital EU assistance programmes to a broad variety of beneficiaries in Montenegro. The project has been implemented by Alternative Consulting in consortium with Expertise & Advisors.

On the occasion of the completion of the project, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Montenegro, Mr Yngve Engstroem, noted that a necessary precondition for managing EU funds is having a professional, well-trained and committed service to deliver assistance directly contributing to the EU accession agenda. “We are happy that our technical assistance has helped the CFCU in successfully managing over €75 million worth of EU assistance in a wide range of areas, making a real difference to the lives of people and communities across Montenegro,” Engstroem said.

European Union remains the biggest funder of projects activities in Montenegro, and a major part of the assistance has been indirectly managed by the Directorate for Finance and Contracting of the EU Assistance Funds (CFCU) in the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare. For the CFCU having a significant role in the indirect management of IPA funds in Montenegro is imperative to have sufficient capacity, knowledge, and skills in managing EU funds, thereby contributing to an increase in the absorption rate in Montenegro. Therefore, the project targeted human capacity and working processes in the CFCU, and the project activities significantly strengthened the CFCU's overall performance.

Throughout the project that lasted 16 months, the Project Team and the CFCU jointly conducted dozens of activities: 13 training/workshops on topics related to IPA management were organized that were attended by the CFCU employees, the CFCU internal working procedures were revised to secure workload balancing and optimization among employees, the knowledge and skills of the CFCU staff members in procurement and financial management of IPA, managing irregularities, were enhanced, and 10 CFCU staff members visited Estonian national administration to get familiar with the mechanism of implementation of EU Structural funds.

The strong commitment by both the CFCU and the Project Team, together with the close cooperation with the representatives from Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, led to the successful completion of all the project activities and achievement of the project results i.e. capacity of the CFCU increased, internal processes of the CFCU improved and operational and long-term strategic objectives of the CFCU developed.

The project also supported the Governmental strategic goal of Montenegro becoming a full member of the European Union family.