Nordic Support for Progress of North Macedonia
A) The Government of Norway is funding a sub-regional programme “Nordic Support for Progress in North Macedonia”implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The project consists of socio-economic development support to the more undeveloped parts of the country and also envisages support to the national authorities responsible for leading the renewed efforts on the EU accession process. The Government of Norway has allocated funding for the implementation of the Project in North Macedonia over three years, starting from September 2018 until December 2022.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to a more balanced socio-economic development and to contribute to the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and EU accession negotiations priorities.
Locally, the project aims to increase employment opportunities, support social cohesion, as well as to enhance local infrastructure in the less developed areas with a focus given to the inclusion of youth, women and vulnerable groups in the labour market. Nationally, the project aims at supporting the government to improve its capacity for EU integration and government reform agenda in the accession process.
B) The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has decided to fund a project “Support to progress in North Macedonia - Government reform agenda in the EU-accession process” to be implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The objective of the project supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is to support the enhancement of the EU integration capacity of the Republic of North Macedonia by providing technical assistance to government institutions during the accession period.
SIDA has allocated funding for the implementation of the project in North Macedonia during 48 months until December 2022.
The Overall Objective of the SIDA support is to contribute to, and effectively communicate to the public, the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, accession negotiations and government reform priorities in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Project interventions are aimed towards communicating the benefits of the EU accession process to the general population, as well as to involve the civil society and media throughout the accession phases. All project activities will be undertaken in partnership with the Government of North Macedonia, in cooperation with the national institutions, with the aim of allowing them to adopt/adapt the legal requirements and, where relevant, EU accession criteria.
This will ensure national ownership and support the development of national capacities.
Background Information – relevant for the assignment
The purpose of Result 3 “Supporting the government reform agenda in the accession process” is to provide support to relevant national institutions in charge of alignment of national legal acts with the EU acquis and to contribute to further building of capacities of central coordination structures and relevant national structures for successful carrying out of the screening process (explanatory and bilateral screening). The overall process is coordinated by the Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA), as the main coordination body in the accession negotiation process.
The activity that is defined by this ToR aims to support SEA - Sector for information and communication technology and archiving (SEA-SICTA) and strengthen its capacity ensuring improved functioning of SEA’s ITC systems and thus will contribute to implementation of Activity 3.3(1.3) Support SEA in Preparation of NPAA and Law Approximation for the Screening Process.
Network and hardware infrastructure
The Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA) network infrastructure covers its main headquarters at Presveta Bogorodica square, number 3, on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors. On the site, contains SEA’s server room (hosts SEA’s email server, SEA’s public web sites and all software applications used by the Secretariat, including the ones used during the accession negotiation process with the European Union) and network equipment that provides uninterrupted communication services between the ICT devices (OS Microsoft) used by the SEA employees.
Software applications
The main active software applications that SEA uses are:
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NPAA Portal, as a multidimensional concept, supports the process of planning, monitoring, reporting and managing NPAA;
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Benchmarking - application for monitoring benchmarks and action plans, in specific reform areas;
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NLEX – legislation database and the related EU legal acts;
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TCU – EU law translation register and terminology database, including TRADOS translation software;
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TNA - application for training needs assessment as well as planning and monitoring trainings related to the EU/IPA;
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CDAD - Central Donor Assistance Database;
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E-Archive – application for registration of input and output documents in SEA that works according to the existing laws for archive material and other acts for office and archive work.