The “Long-Term Technical Assistance and Training to the Office of the National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund (SAON) in the Republic of Angola” project which was awarded to the Consortium led by LINPICO, on 12th November 2018 came to an end on 12th August 2022.
Project activities were implemented by 1 key expert (team leader), with an input of 690 working days, and non-key experts for short-term interventions of 617 working days in total.
Technical assistance activities were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with periods of “state of emergency” and “state of calamity” decreed by the Angolan State, which forced teleworking on the part of staff and employees of the Ministry of Economy and Planning of Angola (MEP). Nevertheless, under this project 14 short term missions have been successfully implemented:
- Training Courses on programming and implementation of EU funded projects and programs.
- Training on Project Cycle Management.
- Updating the EU Cooperation Management Manuals.
- Preparation of the Multi-Annual Indicative Program for Angola-EU Cooperation 2021-2027:
- EU Budget Support Training.
- Strengthening Communication and Visibility of EU aid amongst the various development cooperation actors in Angola.
- Preparation of the Public Finance Management and Transparency Report in Angola.
- Support for the Legal Constitution of the Observatory of the Informal Economy
- Supporting the Preparation of the National Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063.
- Training on the National Planning System.
- Strengthening the technical, administrative and management capacities of European cooperation.
- Preparation of the Evaluation Report of Transparency and Finance Management in Angola as part of the EU’s budget support assessment criteria.
The support for the preparation of the IV Ministerial Meeting and institutional diagnosis activities for the Support Services to the National Authorizing Officer (SAON) on 11 March 2019. These Ministerial talks covered a broad spectrum of issues: economic cooperation, sustainable development, governance and human rights, multilateral and global challenges such as peace, security and climate change. This meeting was co-chaired by the Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola, Manuel Domingos Augusto and the Minister of Economy and Planning of the Republic of Angola Pedro Luís da Fonseca on the Angolan side and on the EU side by the Vice Prime Minister of Romania, Ana Birchall, representing the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The participants reiterated their full commitment to maintaining the Joint Way Forward as a forum for constructive dialogue and cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect, openness, democracy, rule of law and transparency. Such a partnership can allow a fruitful cooperation with a view to tackle internal and global challenges in the interest of both Angola and the EU.
The development and operationalisation of a web-based platform (SIG@) for recording and managing information on projects and programs. This platform available via the MEP website (mgov.ao) allows the Angolan government and all donors involved in bi or multilateral projects with Angola to consult other donors projects information and modify their own project information. From the International Cooperation subsection the general public can also access information on all EU funded projects in Angola. This systematization of information regarding the implementation of other projects financed within the scope of multilateral and bilateral cooperation will be crucial for an adequate monitoring of development partner cooperation.
A ROM evaluation of this project was carried out between the 24th of January and the 1st of February 2022. Both SAON and the EUD expressed satisfaction with the performance of the intervention, and with the long-term TA provided by LINPICO, in the reinforcement of technical project management skills in indirect management by the NAO and in other interventions related to the SAON’s role in the implementation of EU-funded cooperation in Angola. Feedback from the meetings held with representatives of the NAO was extremely positive regarding the quality of the human resources mobilized by the TA and in particular of the Team leader, Mr Jose Luis Cardoso, for being an added value for the functioning of the SAON, both in terms of the permanent transmission of knowledge and in terms of facilitating positive dialogue with the EUD.
