1. REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
9th Meeting of the Management Group on Statistical Cooperation, March 2007
Twinning project “Support to the State Statistical Office”-recent experience
Point 4.5 National Transition Facility/Phare/CARDS Programmes
Document MGSC/2007/19
Prepared by Vesna Cvetanova
European Integration&International Co-operation Dept.
State Statistical Office of the Republic of Macedonia

2. Quick overview of twinning instrument Twinning is:
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
Quick overview of twinning instrument
Twinning is:
Instrument used for institution building – strengthening of administrative capacity for adopting and implementing EU Acquis;
Launched as main EU instrument for administration capacity building of candidate countries;
Tool that provides MS national experts to CC;
Used for transferring knowledge from public sector of MS to CC.

3. SSO experience with twinning
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
SSO experience with twinning
Twinning as an instrument for implementation of national programs is present for the first time at SSO (previous experience with “service contract”)
Preparing of the project fiche – can we be realistic?
Project fiche approval – prompt reply by Brussels contract unit
Selection of twinning partner – can the response on contract announcement indicate the interest of MS for engagement in twinning projects?
Twinning partners:DESTATIS and Slovenian Statistical Office as junior partner, together with experts from Swedish, Czech and Hungary Statistical Offices

4. SSO experience with twinning (ctd.1)
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
SSO experience with twinning (ctd.1)
The Project contains 6 components – one twinning can not solve all problems
Secondment of competent RTA (PAA) and LPC – good team is base for good project co-ordination
Work plan and budget – can everything be envisaged?
Working procedures – easy the project implementation
Component leaders – persons responsible for achieving the objectives stated

5. SSO experience with twinning (ctd.2)
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
SSO experience with twinning (ctd.2)
Regular reporting on achieved progress – monthly and quarterly
Advance preparations prior to each activity – the more information provided the better results expected
Efforts for including more the homework for SSO – the results should be gained by joint efforts
SSO staff committed to achieving the project’s goals – is commitment enough!?

6. STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
Instead of summary…
As the project is in its first half of implementation, few things could be already recognized:
To pay attention on absorption capacity of the NSI – to be objective
Twinning should focus on limited and well-defined institutional targets – realistic covenant
One twinning is not enough for full functioning and sustainable organization of NSI
To permit equipment provision as separate sub-contract

7. Instead of summary…(ctd.)
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
Instead of summary…(ctd.)
To try to balance the difference in culture and approach
More practices rather than comprehensive discussions on directives or regulations
Possibility of reorientation of the twinning based on objective justification and real pre-conditions
Building network – can it really be established?
Twinning at the beginning

8. Thank you all for your attention !
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
Thank you all for your attention !