Estonia - Latvia Programme 2007-2013
Cross-Border Co-operation Programme under the European Territorial Co-operation Objective
Commission Decision EC (2007) 6603 of 21 December 2007
CCI No 2007 CB 163 PO 050
ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
2009
June 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 IDENTIFICATION ...... 3 2 OVERVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME ...... 4 2.1 Achievement and analysis of the progress ...... 4 2.1.1 Information on the physical progress of the Operational Programme ...... 4 Programme Institutions ...... 10 2.1.2 Financial Information (in EUR) ...... 16 2.1.3 Information about the breakdown of use of the Funds ...... 18 2.1.4 Assistance by target groups ...... 18 2.1.5 Assistance repaid or re-used ...... 27 2.1.6 Qualitative analysis ...... 27 2.2 Information about compliance with Community Law ...... 31 2.3 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them ...... 31 2.4 Changes in the context of the operational programme implementation ...... 34 2.5 Substantial modifications under Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 ...... 35 2.6 Complementarity with other instruments ...... 35 2.7 Monitoring and evaluation ...... 36 2.8 Baltic Sea Strategy ...... 38 3 IMPLEMENTATION BY PRIORITY ...... 40 3.1 Priority 1 “Increased cohesion of the Programme area” ...... 40 3.1.1 Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress ...... 40 3.1.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them ...... 42 3.2 Priority 2 “Higher competitiveness of the Programme area” ...... 43 3.2.1 Achievement of the targets and analysis of the progress ...... 43 3.2.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them ...... 45 3.3 Priority 3 “Active, sustainable and integrated communities” ...... 45 3.3.1 Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress ...... 45 3.3.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them ...... 47 4 MAJOR PROJECTS ...... 47 5 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ...... 47 6 INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY ...... 51 6.1 Publicity of the Programme ...... 51 6.2 Feedback and awareness survey of the Programme ...... 54 6.3 Use of the feedback in further Programme implementation ...... 57 7 ANNEXES ...... 58
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 2
1 IDENTIFICATION
OPERATIONAL Objective concerned European Territorial PROGRAMME Cooperation
Eligible area concerned Estonia (Lõuna-Eesti, Lääne- Eesti) and Latvia (Kurzeme, Pierīga, Rīga, Vidzeme)
Programming period 2007-2013
Programme number (CCI No) 2007 CB 163 PO 050
Programme title Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013
ANNUAL Reporting year 2009 IMPLEMENTATION REPORT
Date of approval of the annual report by the Monitoring Committee
The Annual Implementation Report of the Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 has been prepared in accordance with Article 67 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions of the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 and the model provided in Annex VI of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 846/2009 of 1 September 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions of the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund. Annex VI of the aforementioned Regulation replaces Annex XVIII of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006.
The Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 (hereinafter referred to as the “Programme”) is a cross-border cooperation programme including the NUTS III regions from Estonia (Lõuna- Eesti, Lääne-Eesti) and Latvia (Kurzeme, Pierīga, Rīga, Vidzeme).
The Operational Programme (hereinafter referred to as the “OP”) for the Estonia – Latvia 2007-2013 Programme was approved by the European Commission on 21 December 2007.
The overall objective of the Programme is to promote sustainable development and economic competitiveness of the Programme area through achieving an integrated and Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 3 cross-border approach to economic, social and environmental development in ways, which involve and benefit local people and communities.
2 OVERVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME 2.1 Achievement and analysis of the progress 2.1.1 Information on the physical progress of the Operational Programme
In the year 2009, the Agreement between the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Latvia on the management and administration of the Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 was signed. The agreement came into effect in March 2009 and stipulates the structure, as well as the rights and obligations of the Programme institutions and the main principles of the programme implementation and management. Estonian Ministry of the Interior hosts the Managing Authority, the Certifying Authority as well the Audit Authority of the Programme. In Latvia, the Ministry of Regional Development and Local Governments is the responsible institution for the Programme.
In 2009, the Programme implementation was significantly strengthened. The Programme Institutions acquired their full capacity, the essential Programme documents were developed and approved, the procedures on the Programme as well as on the project level were further specified and enhanced. More information about this can be obtained in the sub-section “Programme institutions”.
The Programme has four priority axes. Priority 1 is “Increased cohesion of the Programme area” with two directions of support, priority 2 is “Higher competitiveness of the Programme area” with three directions of support, priority 3 is called “Active, sustainable and integrated communities” with two directions of support. Priority 4 is Technical Assistance. The total allocation of ERDF funds to priorities 1 – 3 is 35 934 836 EUR. By the end of 2009, 22 396 687 EUR or 62.33% of ERDF funds had been committed under priorities 1-3. The total number of projects financed is 28. Each priority and relevant directions of support are discussed in more detail in the chapters 2.1.6 “Qualitative analysis”, 2.3 “Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them” as well as in the section 3 “Implementation by priority”.
Regarding projects, in 2009 it was decided to stop the procedure of continuous submission of applications and to introduce the application rounds with the fixed submission date. The continuous submission was stopped by 20 July 2009. This presumably activated the applicants; altogether 42 project applications were submitted shortly before the final deadline. Although only 7 projects were approved, it demonstrates that people are willing to improve their lives and environment and are ready to make their contribution. There are several factors by which a low number of approved projects can be explained but mostly the idea of the project was not well considered, the activities and results were not sufficiently targeted and clear. Some projects did not fit in the framework of the Programme and would Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 4 have been more suitable to the national schemes of structural funds as they were not aimed at generating any cross-border impact. Also, consulting the JTS Programme consultants helps a lot to improve a quality of a project. Unfortunately, many applicants did not use this possibility prior to submission of their applications.
All projects help to achieve the aims and targets set in the Operational Programme and thus contribute to the social, economical and environmental life of the Programme area. The most popular areas have been tourism development and promoting community life. This is understandable as the area has a great tourism potential, which should be further developed to attract people from home and abroad, which in turn would bring finances to the region.
Community development on a grass-root level is often in shortage of resources and the Estonia – Latvia Programme provides a fair opportunity to remedy this problem. Therefore many projects focus at improving cross-border community life on a grass-root level by promoting different cultural events, introducing the traditions of the country, improving social environment in the country-side, preserving cultural values of the area.
The activeness of applicants in the Programme area is demonstrated by the high number of partners from the two countries involved in the submitted projects in 2009, both approved and non-approved.
Table 1. Number of EE and LV partners in the projects presented to the MC in 2009
Projects EE LV One vacation, two countries 1 2 Back to Nature 3 2 ViSoEst by bike 1 10 Reconstruction of Karksi-Nuia – Seda river 1 1 SDF – Song and Dance Festivals 1 1 Cultural Heritage 1 2 Singing Neighbours 2 3 EstLatOrganic 3 3 RIVERWAYS 1 2 Water tourism project 3 7 Healthy Lifestyle Promotion 7 8 DELSICO 1 2 Cross Border Ball 3 2 Active tourism - attractive feature of Madona and 1 1 Põlva FireSafe 1 4 Functional Urban Regions – FURs 1 2 DEMO FARM 1 2 BUY LOCAL 1 1 ORGPOTVEG 1 2 Prevention and timely treatment of eye diseases 1 1 DevHistMus 1 2 Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 5
Development of the common marketing packages 1 1 European Biathlon Competence Region 1 1 Magical Sculpture Route of Livonia 1 1 Easy together 1 1 Culture exchange for youth 1 1 Folk culture without borders 6 4 Latvia-Estonia Basketball League 2 6 Young sailors 1 1 Riverways+Water Tourism (Riverways 2) 3 9 SPORT UNIT 1 1 BayLink 1 3 Common youth work 1 1 Energy independent communities 1 1 E-healthedu 3 1 INSWEM 1 3 EstGenoLat 1 1 ESTLAT.TV 1 1 Alternative energy gathering 4 6 VV JRC 1 1 BrainBase 1 1 E-Health solutions 1 1 MetErMan (methodology for erosion process 3 2 management) Harizgli 1 1 EST-LAT-GAME 1 1 ENVINTED 1 1 Active through Passive! 2 4 ABC 1 2 ORGPOTVEG 4 4 TERA-GRAUDS 2 1 AutoCad Module development 1 2 ExportLab 6 6 SIB-NET 2 3 Boost BioBusiness 3 3 Space4Business 1 3 Livonian Wool 2 2 Education on the Border 3 3 Joint Landscape Architecture 2 1 Learning network for entrepreneurship 3 1 encouragement Blacksmiths Studios 1 1 Education Centre creation 1 1 e-RiTa 5 6 Linking the Environment 1 1 ReMeDe-EstLat 1 1 CRETO 1 1 Camps and events for pupils “From the Acorn into the 1 1 Oak” Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 6
SALSA 1 2 Folk Culture without Borders 6 4 Border Game 1 1 TOLERANCE 2 1 Still active 4 5 Culture Bridge 1 1 Total 134 172
To better follow the fulfilment of the objectives set in the Operational Programme and subsequently those outlined under priorities, a set of indicators is foreseen for each priority area. The tables below list all the indicators specified in the Operational Programme. The baseline value for all indicators is zero.
Table 2. Fulfilment of the Programme indicators
Baseline - Achievement Programme Fulfilment % Indicator Objective 2007 - 2009 target - 2015 - 2009
Priority 1. Increased cohesion of the Programme area Number of projects Improved physical creating new or connectivity of the improving the existing Programme area 0 2 10 20% cross-border transport connection links
Number of projects Improved physical improving access to ICT connectivity of the 0 1 10 10% networks or services Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint developing joint use of management of public 0 2 5 40% infrastructure services and resources in the Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint developing management of public 0 4 5 80% collaboration in the field services and resources of public services in the Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint finding joint solutions to management of public 0 4 10 40% similar environmental services and resources problems in the Programme area
Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 892 300 297% education or training target group activities
Priority 2. Higher competitiveness of the Programme area
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 7
Number of projects Increased overall promoting economic 0 8 15 53% entrepreneurial spirit competitiveness of the and skills Programme area
Number of projects Increased overall supporting the economic development of competitiveness of the 0 6 20 30% economic activities with Programme area higher value added
Number of projects Increased overall encouraging the economic 0 4 10 40% development of cross- competitiveness of the border trade Programme area
Number of co-operation Increased overall projects between economic 0 4 10 40% enterprises and research competitiveness of the or education institutions Programme area
Number of new or Increased attractiveness improved joint tourism of the Programme area 0 5 20 25% products or services for visitors
Number of projects Increased attractiveness developing joint use of of the Programme area 0 5 10 50% infrastructure for visitors
Number of Increased capacity of entrepreneurs business operators in benefiting from the the Programme area 0 416 300 139% projects aimed at improving the business environment
Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 1 835 1 400 131% education or training target group activities
Priority 3. Active, sustainable and integrated communities Number of projects Improved availability of improving services for services in the 0 15 10 150% the communities Programme area
Number of projects Increased activity of the increasing the activity of local communities 0 15 10 150% local communities
Number of rural Increased activity of municipalities involved local communities in the 0 36 80 45% in project Programme area
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 8 implementation
Number of non- Increased activity of governmental local communities in the organisations involved Programme area 0 18 40 45% in project implementation
Number of participants Increased social and benefiting from joint cultural integration of 0 20 185 40 000 50% social and cultural the people in the activities Programme area
Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 893 300 298% education or training target group activities
Priority 4. Technical assistance Percentage of all Efficient assessment, cannot be projects approved for selection and 0 measured in 95% 0,00% funding implemented monitoring procedures 2009 successfully of the Programme
Number of events, Increased knowledge seminars and trainings and capacity of the organised for the target group about the 0 43 32 134% publicity, information Programme and capacity building about the Programme
Number of participants Increased knowledge 1 200 to different Programme and capacity of the thereof at 1 435 events (conferences, target group 0 least 50% 120% workshops, seminars, 969 female female trainings)
As can be seen from the table, the fulfilment of indicators in some cases is rather low. When the Programme was designed, more smaller-scale projects were expected. In reality the projects’ budgets are bigger and that also enables to finance altogether less projects. That partly explains the low fulfilment of the indicators. The topic is more discussed in the section 3, “Implementation by priority”.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 9
Programme Institutions Managing Authority
Two full-time employees are working in the Managing Authority (hereinafter also referred to as the “MA”). On the Programme level, the MA continued to ensure that the Programme would be duly implemented in accordance with the relevant legislative acts and approved Programme documents. The essential Programme documents were further elaborated and completed during 2009. The Description of Management and Control System was submitted to the European Commission on 09/04/2009 accompanied by the Audit Report on Compliance Assessment of the Programme Management and Control System description and Opinion on the Compliance of the Management and Control System description. The Description of the Management and Control System provides in detail the set-up, functions and responsibilities of the Programme Institutions, the document flow and reporting procedures, the Programme information system.
Following certain elaborations, the Description of the Management and Control System was approved by the European Commission and the Commission issued its letter of acceptance on 30/09/2009 confirming that the compliance assessment documents were acceptable and the management and control systems for the Programme comply with the provisions of Articles 58 to 62 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006.
The Managing Authority is the body signing the subsidy contracts. In 2008, no subsidy contracts were formalised due to later than planned start of the Programme. In 2009, all in all 20 subsidy contracts with the projects’ Lead Partners were signed. The contracts involved also the project applications approved in 2008. For all approved projects the MC set certain conditions to be fulfilled before signing the contract. In several cases this was a rather lengthy process for the partners, and that is why signing of some contracts was delayed.
Although the main Programme documents were in place in 2009, there was a need to further elaborate some document templates. In 2009, the templates for the Amendment to the Subsidy Contract as well as the Amendment to the Agreement between the lead partner and the project partners (the Partnership Agreement) were developed by the Managing Authority. The Amendment to the Subsidy Contract was effected with four beneficiaries.
Due to the administrative reform in Latvia in 2009 several municipalities were reorganised. This affected also the partners of the projects implemented in the framework of the Programme. The Managing Authority provided relevant instructions to the Joint Technical Secretariat (hereinafter also referred to as the “JTS”) on handling these cases. Each new municipality which was the legal successor of the previous project partner-municipality had to confirm, either in a separate letter or in a Request for Changes that they would assume all project-related liabilities and ensure effective implementation of the project. In all such cases, amendments to the Partnership Agreement were signed between the lead partner and project partners.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 10
In order to accelerate the receipt of funds by the beneficiaries the Managing Authority initiated the simplification of the processing of the projects’ Progress Reports. The simplification involved processing the Progress Reports only by the Joint Technical Secretariat whereas previously the Progress Reports had to be verified also by the First Level controllers (hereinafter also referred to as the “FLC”). However, at this level it was double verification by the FLC as the Progress Report is a consolidation of the Partner Reports, which are verified by the FLC. Therefore it was considered reasonable to skip this stage. The Lead Partners can submit Progress Reports accompanied by confirmations of Partner Reports issued by FLC directly to Joint Technical Secretariat. The process, which involved correspondence with and approval from the Latvian Responsible Authority, was started in 2009 and was completed in the 1st quarter of 2010 by the approval of MC on 11 March 2010.
The Managing Authority followed that the procedures for the effective implementation are in place in the Programme institutions and that the deadlines for different operations are met. This included the Joint Technical Secretariat, First Level Control body in Estonia and Certifying Authority (hereinafter also referred to as the “CA”). Confirmation was received that the institutions have developed necessary operational guidelines in compliance with the relevant legal acts, which are applied in everyday performance regarding the Programme. The FLC has compiled the Manual for Submission of Reports in the framework of Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013, which provides the requirements for reporting as well as for compilation and checking the financial reports. The CA has prepared the Manual for Certifying Authority, which specifies the organization and functions of the body. CA and FLC have prepared checklists to be used on controlling the reports and during the site visits respectively. The JTS has developed a “Site-visit form” used during the visits of the projects. Electronic form for checking the Progress Reports has been developed in the Programme database “Navision”.
The Communication Plan of the Programme was elaborated by the Managing Authority during 2008 and was approved by the European Commission on 30 January 2009. The implementation of the Communication Plan is more specifically described in the Chapter 6.
Joint Technical Secretariat
The Joint Technical Secretariat is established as a separate legal entity within Enterprise Estonia (hereinafter also referred to as the “EAS”) and is located in the Programme area, in the town of Tartu. The JTS involves also the Info-point in Riga, staffed by one employee – the Information Manager. The staff of Tartu office is made up of the Head of Secretariat, four Programme Consultants and one Secretary working part-time. The JTS is supervised by the MA. The primary function of the JTS is to disseminate the general Programme information and explain the Programme requirements and expectations in respective information days, seminars, trainings etc.; further assist the project applicants and beneficiaries during project preparation and implementation if necessary (providing individual consultations, seminars
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 11 etc) as well as to carry out project site visits and monitor the running projects, and help disseminate their results.
In 2009, the JTS carried out the following activities:
Elaboration and revision of several key documents for Programme implementation:
The Programme Manual was amended throughout 2009 and changes were approved at all the MC meetings in 2009;
Project application form underwent considerable changes in autumn 2009 and was approved by the MC in November 2009;
Progress report form has been updated throughout 2009 with minor improvements;
Quality assessment methodology was changed in the end of 2009 and approved by the MC in November 2009 (JTS will not any longer use external experts for standard quality assessment for every project, instead only thematic external experts are involved upon need);
Final report form was elaborated and approved by the MC in May 2009.
For information purposes the Programme Manual and application form are translated also into the Estonian and Latvian language.
Development of Programme Database
EAS’s database, which is based on Microsoft Navision programme and has been tailored to meet EAS’s needs, is used as the programme database. In 2009 Navision database has been updated to satisfy better the needs of the Estonia – Latvia Programme. Since May 2009 all project processing steps are recorded in Navision database and relevant documentation is uploaded on a continuous basis. Programme database can be accessed also by the Managing Authority, Certifying Authority, Audit Authority and first-level control bodies both in Estonia and Latvia.
JTS’ other tasks and initiatives
The JTS has compiled a financial and activity report for the year 2008 and quarterly reports on the use of the technical assistance budget in 2009. In addition, JTS’ budget and annual work plan for 2010 were prepared.
The JTS has continued the initiative to meet with the representatives of Estonian and Latvian first-level control bodies at least twice a year to discuss reporting requirements and procedures, eligibility issues and document sharing between the JTS and first-level control bodies. In 2009 the meetings were held in March in Tartu, Estonia, and in September in Riga, Latvia.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 12
Information and publicity measures carried out by the JTS are described in more detail in the Chapter 6 “Information and publicity”. Below a concise list of major activities in the area is provided: Contact forum of the Programme;
Information seminars (11 events);
Seminars for partners of approved projects (2 in March, 2 in September and 4 in December)
Contact trips for Estonian and Latvian entrepreneurs (two 2-day trips);
Publishing several printed materials (information sheets of the Programme, re- printing foldable A3 maps with the Programme area and brief Programme info on reverse, posters of the Programme to be used by the JTS and the projects) ;
Publishing Programme newsletter (3 editions, each in English, Estonian and Latvian), etc.
Audit Authority
In September-October 2009, Audit Authority carried out the system audit of the Joint Technical Secretariat with the following objectives:
• Objective 1: Overall JTS administration; ensuring effective functioning.
• Objective 2: Application and selection procedures of operations for funding.
• Objective 3: Horizontal issues: Functioning of IT/communication systems.
The procedures covered the most essential documentation concerning the administration of JTS. It also included a partial examination of the JTS budget and plans, as well as the Programme implementation monitoring assessment. A substantial test has been carried out involving on-spot visit of JTS premises, interviews, review of the materials, and general examination of the selected projects’ folders. The establishment and the adequacy of the Programme IT system were evaluated through step-by-step review within the Navision system.
As a result of the audit carried out, no key elements showed irregularities or non-compliance with the relevant Community Rules. Within the Objective 1, the audit findings asserted several issues related to the internal control system in JTS and the assessment methodology of the Programme implementation. The risks are related to the possible weak achievement of the Programme objectives due to the unclear measurements and poor sustainability of monitoring. For the Objective 2, a few weaknesses in the area of communication with private partners’ target group were found. Some of the risks also involve the probability of the inefficient use of the Programme funds due to the unproductive communication means, i.e. awareness of the Programme is relatively lower among private partners, which increases the risk of receiving fewer good quality projects from private applicants. No essential issues Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 13 have arisen for the Objective 3, where the control measures were sufficient. However, some remarks have been made and shall be followed up continuously within the other system audits.
The main recommendation was to review the weaknesses in the Programme implementation control including the strategic plans update, the strict application of the approved forms and the consolidation of the relevant documentation, and clear monitoring and reporting means. It was strongly advised to concentrate on the poorly committed Directions of Support, approved by the Operational Programme but being ignored due to the lack of relevant measurements, and to ensure the participation of the private partners as it has been planned by the Programme.
The main conclusion of the system audit was “Works well. Only minor improvements are needed”. These improvements, however, must be made in order to ensure a successful functioning of the system elements through the whole Programme period and to avoid the systemic errors within the connected fields of the Programme Management and Control.
The second main activity of the Audit Authority was the preparation of the Report on Compliance Assessment to the Description of the Management and Control System. The Audit Authority issued its Unqualified Opinion on compliance of the Estonia - Latvia Cross- border Co-operation Programme (2007-2013) Management and Control System Description under the European Territorial Co-Operation Objective on 13/07/2009. It confirmed the compliance of the key elements of the system with Articles 58 to 62 of the Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The Description of the Management and Control System was approved by the European Commission on 30/09/2009.
Certifying Authority
Certifying Authority worked full year according to the 2009 action plan. CA sent to the European Commission an annual statement for the year 2008 on withdrawal and recovered amounts, pending recoveries and irrecoverable amounts on March 30, 20091. CA submitted 2009 ERDF payment forecast to the European Commission on April 28, 2009. The indicative ERDF forecast for Estonia-Latvia Programme 2007-2013 for the year 2009 was 3,585,920.00 EUR.
CA drew up and submitted to the European Commission the first certificate, statement of expenditure and application for payment on October 26, 2009. Total eligible costs included in the first statement of expenditure were 866 422,08 EUR. ERDF intermediate payment requested in the first application for payment was 519 771,15 EUR. In 2009 the European Commission made to the Programme account also additional ERDF support prepayment in the amount of 1 529 141,96 EUR, and therefore CA had sufficient resources for making all required ERDF payments to the project beneficiaries in 2009. During the period January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009 total expenditure paid out by the beneficiaries included in
1 All technical assistance costs that were paid out during year 2008 were eligible. Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 14 payment claims was 1 578 124,82 EUR including ERDF support 1 090 530,49 EUR, national public co-financing 467 255,39 EUR and private expenditure 20 338,94 EUR.
Following the approval of the Description of the Management and Control System of the Estonia-Latvia Programme 2007-2013 by the European Commission, the CA sent the first quarterly communication on the nonexistence of irregularities (SC3 report) to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Estonia on January 15, 2010.
In 2009 CA was fully staffed. There are 4 officials working for the CA: Head of the Finance Department who is appointed the Head of CA, Deputy Head of the Finance Department, CA chief specialist (half time) and CA accountant (half time). Taking into account that the preparation of the Description of the Management and Control System took more time than initially planned in 2009, and the first payment to the final beneficiary was made just on the September 16, 2009 and no irregularities were detected in 2009, the assessment of the Certifying Authority was that the implementation of the Estonia - Latvia Programme 2007- 2013 in the year 2009 was satisfactory. In order to speed up the implementation of the Programme, the control of the payment claims of the projects financed in the framework of the Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 should be more simplified in the first level control phase during the following period.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 15
2.1.2 Financial Information (in EUR) Table 3. Financial information on the priority axes by source of funding in EUR for the period January 1 – December 31, 2009
Budget allocated Budget implemented Community Funding National National private Total Expenditure Corresponding Private Expenditure paid Total Public funding 2 funding paid out by public expenditure 5 by the body payments funding the contribution 4 responsible for received from beneficiaries making payments the included in to the Commission 7 payment beneficiaries 6 claims sent to the managing authority 3
Priority Axis 1 17 967 418,00 2 994 250,00 1 000 000,00 21 961 668,00 34 108,63 5 116,29 0,00 28 992,34 718 696,72 Increased cohesion of the Programme area Priority Axis 2 14 373 934,00 2 199 995,00 1 907 296,00 18 481 225,00 646 944,41 90 939,98 20 338,94 535 665,49 829 502,17 Higher competitiveness of the Programme area Priority Axis 3 3 593 484,00 634 144,00 0,00 4 227 628,00 416 490,22 62 473,53 0,00 354 016,69 268 752,05 Active, sustainable and integrated communities Priority Axis 4 2 293 713,00 4 119 683,00 0,00 6 413 396,00 480 581,56 308 725,59 0,00 171 855,97 231 962,17 Technical Assistance Total 38 228 549,00 9 948 072,00 2 907 296,00 51 083 917,00 1 578 124,82 467 255,39 20 338,94 1 090 530,49 2 048 913,11
2 To be filled only when priority axes are expressed in total costs 3 Eligible expenditure only certified by CA in 2009 4 The precise rate used to reimburse payments is the ration between the Community funding and the Total funding. 5 Only applicable for operational programmes expressed in total cost 6 Expenditure paid by the body responsible for making payments to the beneficiaries equals the amounts of ERDF co-financing. 7 Total payments received from the Commission in 2009 include 23.04.2009 prepayment 764 570,98 EUR, 28.04.2009 prepayment 764 570,98EUR and 19.11.2009 intermin payment 519 771,15 EUR. Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 16
Table 4. Cumulative financial information on the priority axes by source of funding in EUR for the period January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2009
Budget allocated Budget implemented Community National Public National private Total funding Expenditure paid Corresponding Private Expenditure paid Total payments Funding funding funding8 out by the public expenditure11 by the body received from beneficiaries contribution10 responsible for the Commission included in making payments 13 payment claims to the sent to the beneficiaries 12 managing authority9
Priority Axis 1 17 967 418,00 2 994 250,00 1 000 000,00 21 961 668,00 34 108,63 5 116,29 0,00 28 992,34 1 617 067,62 Increased cohesion of the Programme area Priority Axis 2 14 373 934,00 2 199 995,00 1 907 296,00 18 481 225,00 646 944,41 90 939,98 20 338,94 535 665,49 1 548 198,87 Higher competitiveness of the Programme area Priority Axis 3 3 593 484,00 634 144,00 0,00 4 227 628,00 416 490,22 62 473,53 0,00 354 016,69 448 426,25 Active, sustainable and integrated communities Priority Axis 4 2 293 713,00 4 119 683,00 0,00 6 413 396,00 848 849,56 545 300,96 0,00 303548,60 346 647,82
Total 38 228 549,00 9 948 072,00 2 907 296,00 51 083 917,00 1 946 392,82 703 830,76 20 338,94 1 222 223,12 3 960 340,56
8 To be filled only when priority axes are expressed in total costs 9 Eligible expenditure only certified by CA. 10 The precise rate used to reimburse payments is the ration between the Community funding and the Total funding. 11 Only applicable for operational programmes expressed in total cost 12 Expenditure paid by the body responsible for making payments to the beneficiaries equals the amounts of ERDF co-financing. 13 Total payments received from the Commission 2008-2009 include 8.01.2008 prepayment 764 570,98 EUR, 26.05.2008 prepayment 1 146 856,47 EUR 23.04.2009 prepayment 764 570,98 EUR, 28.04.2009 prepayment 764 570,98EUR and 19.11.2009 intermin payment 519 771,15 EUR.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 17
2.1.3 Information about the breakdown of use of the Funds
The table of the breakdown of use of the Funds has been compiled in accordance with Annex II of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006. The table has been transmitted electronically via SFC system to the European Commission.
2.1.4 Assistance by target groups
In the beginning of the year 2009, the potential project applicants could submit applications under all Programme Priorities and Directions of Support. After March 5, 2009 two directions of support – 2.2 and 3.1 – were closed for submission of applications. More information on the issue is provided in the chapter 2.1.6 “Qualitative analysis”. 15 applications were submitted for financing to be decided on the MC meeting in Liepaja, Latvia, on February 19-20, 2009, 16 applications on the MC meeting in Dikli, Latvia, on May 28-29, 2009, and 42 applications on the MC meeting in Riga, Latvia, on November 11-13, 2009. Altogether, the MC decided to finance 21 projects.
The project applicants were diverse both by sector, including all sectors supported by the Programme, and by their legal status. In total, 134 partners from Estonia and 172 partners from Latvia were involved in the project applications among which the MC selected projects for funding. The partners involved were representing the whole Programme eligible territory.
The number of private enterprises applying for funding from the Programme was relatively small – altogether 314 project partners were involved in submitted project applications and only 27 of them were private enterprises. More detailed analysis of the problems concerning private enterprises can be found in section 2.3 “Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them”.
In total, the division of ERDF commitments between target groups is as follows (in EUR):
Table 5. Assistance by target groups
Total 2009 2008
Local public 7 058 425 32% 2 433 409 15% 4 625 016 73% authorities
Other public 12 956 664 58% 11 757 399 73% 1 199 265 19% bodies
NGOs 1 885 579 8% 1 522 629 10% 362 950 5.7%
Private 496 019 2% 311 019 2% 185 000 3% partners
Total 22 396 687 100% 16 024 456 100% 6 372 231 100%
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 18
As can be seen, when comparing the above figures, the projects approved in 2008 had mostly local public authorities as project partners, while in 2009 partners from other organisations are much better represented in project applications. The reason for committing large share of funding to applications from local public authorities in 2008 could be the fact that local public authorities had relatively more project ideas ready to be submitted right after opening of the Programme in April 2008, while other organisations required more time to formulate their ideas and build partnerships. Therefore, their applications were rather submitted in 2009.
An overview of the projects supported by the MC is provided in the table 6 on the following page.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 19
Table 6. Overview of all the projects approved by the MC in 2008 and 2009
Direction ERDF MC LP region Partners Project title/short name LP country LP name LP type of support allocation meeting or county EE LV Total
Towards the Blue Flag on Baltic beaches/ Beach Saulkrasti Local public 2.2 1 626 891 Kuressaare Latvia Kurzeme 2 5 7 Hopping Municipality Council authority
Valga Town Local public Increasing the attractiveness of Valga-Valka/IAVV 2.2 1 970 465 Kuressaare Estonia Valga 1 1 2 Government authority
Activating vital and healthy community by Haanja Rural Local public promoting winter sports in Aluksne-Haanja 3.1. 287 385 Kuressaare Estonia Võru 1 1 2 Municipality authority Uplands/Aluksne -Haanja Uplands (AHU)
Towards cross-border sports Local public 3.1. 285 600 Kuressaare Latvia Ape Area Council Vidzeme 2 1 3 communities/SPORTBORDER authority
Increasing competitiveness of Estonian and Latvian Public Estonian University food industry based on new and improved local 2.1. 720 500 Kuressaare Estonia equivalent Tartu 2 4 6 of Life Sciences fruit and berry product development/GoodFruit body Continuous cultural cooperation on the Estonian- Alūksne Local Local public Latvian border-area / Cultural Cooperation for 3.2 291 975 Kuressaare Latvia Vidzeme 2 3 5 Municipality authority Intermediates/ Increasing Competitiveness of Estonian and Latvian Public Mechatronics sector through creation of Integrated 2.1. 913 750 Haapsalu Estonia Tartu Science Park equivalent Tartu 1 2 3 Network of Product Development, Training and body Testing Centres/Protolab Network
Local public One vacation - two countries 2.2 713 895 Liepaja Latvia Ventspils City Council Kurzeme 1 2 3 authority
Promotion of Local Communities of Stende and Local public 3.1 275 665 Haapsalu Latvia Stende Town Council Kurzeme 1 1 2 Võhma/Connecting Stende and Võhma authority
Elaborating joint tools for environmental education Foundation Tartu Public as efficient mean of management of protected 1.2 554 760 Liepaja Estonia Environmental equivalent Tartu 3 2 5 areas / Back to Nature Education Centre body Public Unknown cultural heritage values in common State Forest 1.2. 805 371 Liepaja Estonia equivalent Harju 1 2 3 natural and cultural space / Cultural heritage Management Centre body National Awareness Rising of Voluntary Firemen Work and State Fire and Rescue 3.2. 251 762 Liepaja Latvia public Riga 1 4 5 Safety Issues /FireSafe Service of Latvia authority The Road Eliminating the infrastructure barriers on all-round National Administration of the development of border areas /Reconstruction of 1.1. 5 175 779 Liepaja Estonia public Pärnu 1 1 2 Western Region of Karksi-Nuia - Koni road authority Estonia Supporting the Song and Dance Festival Tradition in Euregio Pskov- Public Estonian-Latvian Border Areas/SDF -Song and Dance 3.2. 107 277 Liepaja Estonia Livonia, section equivalent Valga 1 1 2 Festivals Estonia body
Development of Cross-Border Choir Singing Võru Parish Local public 3.2. 280 585 Liepaja Estonia Võru 2 3 5 Culture/Singing Neighbours Government authority
Public Go cycling through Vidzeme and Southern Vidzeme Tourism 2.2. 1 447 668 Liepaja Latvia equivalent Vidzeme 2 10 12 Estonia/ViSoEst by bike Association body "Promotion of the ball sports tradition in the border region through formation of a close Local public 3.1. 291 975 Liepaja Latvia Alūksne Municipality Vidzeme 3 2 5 cooperation network between ball sports fans of authority Estonia and Latvia"/"Cross Border Ball" Increasing the attractiveness of Madona and Polva territories through cooperation in active tourism Local public and developing tourism marketing and skiing 2.2. 404 592 Liepaja Latvia Madona Municipality Vidzeme 1 1 2 authority infrastructure/Active tourism- attractive feature of Madona and Põlva Sustainable use of local natural resources and The Union of Public cultural heritage for business development in 2.1 408 708 Dikli Estonia Setomaa Rural equivalent Põlva 1 1 2 Setomaa and Ape regions/BUY LOCAL Municipalities body Development of Latvian-Estonian network for Latvian Rural Public demonstration of environmentally friendly farming 1.2. 755 271 Dikli Latvia Advisory and Training equivalent Riga 1 2 3 practices/DEMO FARM Centre body Public Cross-border transmission of best special teaching, 3.2. 42 441 Dikli Estonia Võru Järve School equivalent Võru 1 1 2 knowledge and social protection/Easy together body
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 21
Regional Small Innovative Business Promotion Network/SIB 2.1. 477 520 Riga Latvia Riga Planning Region public Riga 2 4 6 Net authority Boosting Cross-border Entrepreneurship in Life Entrepreneurship Non profit Sciences & Medicine related to Biotechnology and Development Centre 2.1. 279 081 Riga Estonia oriented Tartu 3 3 6 Medical ICT between Estonia and Latvia/Boost for Biotechnology organisation BioBusiness and Medicine Public Mērsrags Port Baltic small harbours network/BayLink 1.1. 1 360 805 Riga Latvia equivalent Kurzeme 1 3 4 Authority body
Non profit Mentally disabled child among us/TOLERANCE 3.2. 200 512 Riga Estonia NGO Anni Playground oriented Tartu 2 1 3 organisation
Promotion of the use of sustainable and low energy Valga Town Local public buildings and constructions in Latvia and 1.2. 289 524 Riga Estonia Valga 2 4 6 Government authority Estonia/Active through Passive!
Development of Cross-Border Co-operation Among Non profit Latvian Community the Grassroots for Development of Sustainable 3.2. 184 997 Riga Latvia oriented Riga 4 5 9 Initiative Foundation Latvia - Estonia Borderland Communities/Still active organisation
National Estonian Rescue Valga-Valka Joint Rescue Capacity/VV JRC 1.2. 1 991 935 Riga Estonia public Harju 1 1 2 Board authority
EE lead partners 15 Totals 46 71 117 LV lead partners 13
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 22
Below, some projects carried out in the framework of the Programme are introduced:
While most of the Estonia – Latvia Programme projects are still in their starting phase, the winter sport project “Alūksne – Haanja Uplands” has already managed to cross the equator and carry out most of its activities. The young athletes and inhabitants of Alūksne and Haanja have spent the past months in active trainings, joint camps and ski runs, supported by the Programme and the snowy winter. Two intensive training camps for skiers and biathletes took place in Alūksne and Haanja during autumn and winter, and were supervised by Estonian and Latvia instructors, each sharing their specific skills and approaches.
“Compared to Alūksne, skiing is practically the national sport in Estonia. It is proved by generally much larger number of Estonian instructors and athletes participating in skiing and biathlon competitions, high-quality trainings at schools (providing also the necessary equipment) and other conditions to enjoy the skiing activities”, admits the project manager from Alūksne, Iveta Veļķere.
During the joint trainings, she has observed some interesting differences in the skiing traits of Estonians and Latvians. „Estonian colleagues put a lot of emphasis on the classical skiing, and that is also evident from the medals in the Olympic Games and world championships. The Alūksne athletes, in turn, use a lot of free-style skiing in their trainings, and therefore mostly continue with biathlon afterwards, as that requires free-style skiing.”
Juri Gotmans, Head of the Haanja municipality, is also pleased about the great interest in the training course for the beginner skiers where many grown-ups participated along with the children. Both agree that the surprisingly snowy winter has really advanced the project, making it possible to prepare high quality tracks for the camps and competitions.
One of the notable events within the project was the people’s ski run “Alūksne 2009”, with altogether 450 participants from Estonia and Latvia, as well as Lithuania who, depending on their age and skiing level, managed the distances of 0.5 to 15 km. A practical seminar to train the future judges/ biathlon referees in Alūksne was also held within the project, hosted by the technical delegate of the International Biathlon Federation, Kalju Valgus. He gave important tips for designing the new skiing and winter sports centre in Alūksne, the technical project of which is also a part of this project. This future centre is supposed to meet the international “B” category enabling Alūksne to host competitions on the European level. Two snow cannons will soon be supplied for the place, to ensure that the nicely started joint traditions could continue in case of less generous winters.
Photo 1. "Alūksne and Haanja Uplands", people's ski run in Alūksne
One area, where Latvians and Estonians have found common language, is singing and dancing activities. This has been shown by variety of joint events within the projects “Singing Neighbours” and “Song and Dance Festivals”. The project “Singing Neighbours”, which started in spring, managed to bring Estonian and Latvian choir conductors together for master classes, as well as to organize a joint camp for five Latvian and Estonian choirs. The camp included some intensive studying of Latvian and Estonian songs that were later performed together at the Cultural House in Võru. The genuine enthusiasm, by which the young singers performed the songs of the other country, was marked also by external listeners. Yet the project is still to have its culmination next year, when a joint festival of Estonian and Latvian youth choirs will take place in Baldone (Latvia).
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 24
Photo 2. "Cultural Cooperation for Intermediates", one of the cross-border cultural events
The title of the project “Back to Nature” might create associations with something rather relaxed. However, this has been one of the most active projects in our Programme throughout the year. It started already in early spring with all kinds of introductory clean-up events and environmental activities for children, and culminated with a camp for Estonian and Latvian students in the Gauja National Park (GNP) territory in June. During this camp, the joint group of participants actively engaged in workshops, seminars, all kinds of creative activities, as well as excursions to various GNP objects. The project has issued a joint bilingual 2010 calendar for children with attractive information on the wetlands. In the spring and summer of 2010, the project is again having educational activities for children and their families, including travelling exhibitions on bogs and wetlands, public clean-up campaigns, competitions and practical research activities in nature. Also, some joint materials will be issued – audio and DVD on bats, fairy-tale book on wetlands and a practical nature interpretation guide on wetlands.
The project „Cultural Heritage” had a busy time in summer and autumn of 2009, gathering and training groups of experts and local activists to search for the unrevealed cultural heritage objects in our countries. Series of seminars and practical workshops were held in various regions, where the interested local people worked together with the field experts and were introduced to the practical application of object mapping methodology.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 25
“Cultural heritage is much more than just castle ruins and manor houses” – this is the general idea underlying the project. The numerous other objects of cultural heritage, such as cult springs, ancient clay mines, smithies, historic landmarks or wells also deserve their recognition and protection. A group of ethnographers, archaeologists, foresters and other experts from Latvia and Estonia are sharing their knowledge in this project, in order to search for and map such objects in a professional and coordinated way. The project is continuing actively in 2010.
Photo 3. "Cultural Heritage", mapping of unknown cultural heritage objects - training event Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 26
2.1.5 Assistance repaid or re-used
No assistance was repaid or re-used in the framework of the programme in 2009.
2.1.6 Qualitative analysis
In 2009, the implementation of the Programme was considerably strengthened. This is witnessed by finalisation of major Programme documents and further establishment of procedures on the Programme as well as on the project level, growing interest in the Programme, which resulted in increased amount of applications and wider range of applicants. The Programme institutions were also enhanced and all of them acquired full capacity during the year.
In 2009, there were three MC meetings:
on February 19-20, 2009 in Liepaja, Latvia, 15 project applications were presented to the MC, of which 10 projects were approved, 2 were adjourned and 3 were rejected;
on May 28-29, 2009 in Dikli, Latvia, 16 project applications were presented to the MC, of which 3 projects were approved, 1 was adjourned and 12 were rejected;
on November 11-13, 2009 in Riga, Latvia, 42 project applications were presented to the MC, of which 7 projects were approved and 35 projects were rejected.
The total number of projects, presented to the MC was more than four times bigger in 2009 than in 2008 (16 projects in 2008 and 73 in 2009). Increase in the number of project applications can be explained by the following:
there was more time to prepare the applications as the Programme opened only in mid- April 2008 and therefore the number of applications submitted was small in 2008; relevant information activities have increased the knowledge of the Programme and its opportunities; as continuous submission of applications was stopped on 20 July 2009, the applicants, who were in the process of preparing an application, made efforts to submit their applications by the above-mentioned deadline.
At the MC meeting on February 19-20, 2009 it was decided to close two directions of support - 2.2 „Increasing the attractiveness of the Programme area“ and direction of support 3.1 „Improving the environment for active and sustainable communities“ - for submission of applications after March 2, 2009.
The reason to close direction of support 2.2 was the fact that after the MC meeting in February 58% of the funds of priority 2 was committed, but there was a clear imbalance between commitments to three directions of support under priority 2. 80% of the committed funding under priority 2 had been allocated to direction of support 2.2., 20% to direction of support 2.1 and 0% to the direction of support 2.3.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 27
The direction of support 3.1 was closed because after MC meeting in February 58% of the funds of priority 3 had been committed, and majority of those funds had been allocated to the projects involving several small-scale local investments. However, the aim of priority 3 is rather to support cooperation projects between local communities which would involve also NGOs, and therefore it was decided to close direction of support 3.1 and keep only direction of support 3.2 (Promoting grass-root level actions) open under priority 3.
The results of closing directions of support 2.2 and 3.1:
1) By the end of 2009 the division of commitments between directions of support under priority 2 is as follows: 31% for direction of support 2.1; 69% for direction of support 2.2, and 0% for direction of support 2.3. It can be concluded that closing the direction of support 2.2 has had some effect by the end of 2009, more levelling between the directions of support is expected to take place in 2010. Special focus will be put on getting good quality projects under direction of support 2.3.
2) Following the closure of this direction of support 3.1, 3 “soft” cooperation projects have been supported under priority 3. Obviously the message has been delivered to applicants that priority 3 is meant for cooperation projects and not for local investments. Also in the following application rounds it is planned to support soft cooperation projects under priority 3.
At the MC meeting in May it was decided to stop continuous submission of applications on July 20, 2009 and open the first call for proposals on December 1, 2009 with a deadline on February 19, 2010. Also the preliminary set of criteria for the first call for proposals was proposed.
At the MC meeting in November the final set of criteria for the first call for proposals was decided, which involved certain modification of the criteria set previously in the Programme Manual. The Programme Manual was respectively amended and the following was decided:
1) Under priority 1 projects under both directions of support 1.1. and 1.2. could be submitted. The Programme encouraged the participation of private partners in project applications.
Only 31% of funding allocated for private partners under priority 1 in the Programme budget had been committed so far therefore the participation of private entrepreneurs was specifically encouraged.
2) Under priority 2 projects under directions of support 2.1. and 2.3. could be submitted.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 28
Co-financing rate from the Programme for public and third sector partners was set at 80%. The programme encouraged the participation of private partners in project applications. It was decided to keep the direction of support 2.2. closed because 69% of the total commitments under priority 2 are allocated to direction of support 2.2. Therefore, directions of support 2.1. and 2.3. required more attention to ensure more balanced allocation of funds under priority 2. The reason for lowering Programme’s co-financing rate from 85% to 80% derived from the fact that the remaining funding under priority 2 (5.8 million EUR in total) is divided between allocations for public and private partners in the Programme budget. 70% of the remaining funding is allocated for public and 30% for private partners. Lowering the co-financing rate for public and third sector partners helps to achieve more balanced allocation between private and public partners.
By the year-end, only 10% of funding was allocated to private partners under Priority 2. At the same time, private entrepreneurs are specially expected to participate in the Programme as they can contribute to the economic development of the region by starting businesses and creating jobs, which could have some effect on increasing the living standards in the area. This in turn is one of the objectives of the Programme.
3) Under priority 3 only projects under direction of support 3.2. could be submitted, which corresponded to the following criteria.
a) maximum request for funding was 150 000 EUR; b) no construction or reconstruction works were allowed in the projects; c) maximum amount of the budget line „Investments“ could be up to 1/3 of each partner’s budget.
The reason to keep only the direction of support 3.2. open was based on the initial idea of the Programme that priority 3 is primarily aimed at supporting cooperation activities between communities i.e. “people to people actions” and that the Programme needed projects promoting grass-root cooperation with participation of NGOs and rural municipalities to fulfil the indicators of the Programme.
The reason for “maximum request for funding was 150 000 EUR”: initially maximum request for funding under priority 3 was 300 000 EUR. Taking into account the low level of indicator fulfilment of the indicators “80 rural municipalities involved in project implementation” and “40 non-governmental organisations involved in project implementation” of priority 3, the Programme needs to plan funding for more projects under priority 3. Hence, lowering the maximum amount of requested grant was one of the options to finance more projects in the frame of the remaining funding.
The reason for “no construction or reconstruction works were allowed in the projects”: as the requirements did not set concrete limitations for types of expenditure in the project budget, project partners tended to add construction and reconstruction costs in project
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 29 budgets. However, this was not the primary idea of the priority 3, which is actually aimed at “soft” cooperation activities.
The reason for “maximum amount of the budget line „Investments“ could be up to 1/3 of each partner’s budget”: as the requirements did not set concrete limitations for types of expenditure in the project budget, project partners tended to add remarkable amounts of investments/purchases in project budgets. As said above, the priority 3 is mainly meant for cooperation activities between communities, it was decided to limit allowed expenditure for investments.
Major achievements during 2009:
- The year 2009 started with no projects financed under priority 1 and with a concern that the number of projects might stay low under priority 1. By the end of 2009 seven good quality projects are supported under priority 1 and in total 61% of the planned budget is committed.
- Increased activity of private partners in participation of the Programme events and in project applications. While in 2008 three out 58 partners involved in project applications were private companies, in 2009 the numbers were 27 out of 314 partners. As the Programme has made efforts to attract more private partners in the end of 2009, the first call for proposals with a submission deadline on February 19, 2010 should also attract private partners (eventually, in total 8 out of 135 partners, who were involved in project applications, were private entrepreneurs in the first call for proposals).
- Significant increase in the number of submitted project applications: in total 16 project applications were presented to the Monitoring Committee in 2008, but in 2009 the number of applications was 73.
- Fluently carried out feedback and awareness survey of the Programme with interesting results and conclusions, which are explained in the last chapter of the report.
- Successful annual major information activity consisting of two contact trips for Estonian and Latvian entrepreneurs and contact forum. The activities are explained in chapter “Information and publicity”.
- Wide promotion of the Programme at a number of events and high number of consultations. More details are given in the Chapter 6 “Information and publicity”.
More information on the progress and achievement of the targets as regards indicators are provided the section 3 “Implementation by priority”.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 30
2.2 Information about compliance with Community Law
The Programme has been set up with and is implemented according to the relevant articles of the Regulation (EC) no 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Regional Development Fund, Council Regulation (EC) no 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999, Commission regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund and Commission Regulation (EC) No 846/2009 of 1 September 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006. The Programme documents have been drawn up based on the above-mentioned legislative acts.
The relevant legislative acts are also available on the Programme web-site and appropriate provisions have been included into the Programme Manual. In addition, the Subsidy Contract to be signed between the Managing Authority and the Lead Partner lists all relevant Community legislation as well as refers to the Estonian and Latvian national legislation to be followed in the implementation of the projects.
The changes in the Community and national legislations are followed on a regular basis and if necessary, the approved legislative changes will be incorporated in the Programme documents. Thus, there have been no problems in connection with the implementation of the operational programme.
2.3 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them
In general, the Programme has progressed smoothly during 2009. The number of submitted applications has considerably increased and over half of the programme’s funds have been committed. However, some problems inhibiting the Programme’s implementation can still be detected.
One of the problems is that very few private entrepreneurs are listed among project partners – there were altogether 314 project partners involved in submitted project applications and only 27 of them were private enterprises.
The main reasons are the following: Based on the survey carried out by the Programme, private entrepreneurs are on average less interested in cooperation, compared to public and third sector;
The Programme’s survey showed that for those private companies with higher interest in cross-border cooperation, pre-financing and co-financing are the major obstacles (assessed on average as “2.7-3” in the 1-4 scale of importance, “1” – non-important obstacle”, “4” – crucial/ decisive obstacle”); this is followed by the lack of information Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 31
(2.4), difficulties to get investment support and preference of other more convenient or appropriate programmes (2.3). The seminar feedback from private applicants also demonstrates lack of time as a serious obstacle (2.8) faced after learning about the project writing and implementing requirements;
It has not been a common practice that private enterprises can apply for funding in cross-border programmes in Estonia and Latvia, therefore private enterprises are in general less informed about such programmes;
As contribution from private partners to the projects is higher than that of public and third sector bodies (50% from private, while public and third sector bodies have to contribute 15%), the Programme is less attractive for them;
Compared to the public and third sector, private enterprises are less experienced in international EU-funded project implementation;
Due to the economic crisis, business companies are more busy and forced to mobilize all resources (including reduced human resources) for their main activities;
Due to the previous obstacles, the cross-border cooperation, where there is interest in such, is often left to be developed by the respective business associations and network organizations that can afford and are interested in activities beyond the primary local production/ sales etc. These organizations are more capable and also more experienced in project development, yet have the status of non-governmental, public or public- equivalent bodies;
Some cross-border cooperation ideas that are found interesting and useful by entrepreneurs are developed and carried out without applying for support from the Programme, as, according to the seminar feedback, entrepreneurs often find it too complicated and time-consuming (“business ideas cannot wait”) to deal with project application and administration, or their cooperation has more the nature of simple mutual trade that is not sufficient to qualify for the Programme’s support.
Since the beginning of 2009 the JTS has actively participated in various targeted events for entrepreneurs and also stressed at public presentations of the Programme that private entrepreneurs are strongly encouraged to apply for funding under priorities 1 and 2, as certain amount of the Programme funding is earmarked for private entrepreneurs. There has been active work with intermediaries of the private sector companies, and Programme seminars and events have been announced through the business papers in both countries.
In summer 2009 the JTS carried out a phone survey among regional stakeholders and journalists to find out sectors of entrepreneurship, which have the strongest cooperation potential. Three sectors stood out: tourism, timber processing and food industry.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 32
On October 28-29 a two-day contact-making trip was organised for Estonian and Latvia local food entrepreneurs, which included company visits to interesting small- and medium-sized food enterprises in Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia. Altogether 20 Estonians and 17 Latvians active in the field of food growing or processing participated. On November 4-5 a two-day contact-making trip was organised for Estonian and Latvia local timber entrepreneurs, which included company visits to interesting small- and medium-sized timber enterprises in Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia. Altogether 7 Estonian and 12 Latvian persons active in the field of timber and wood processing participated.
The major event of the year – contact forum for the partner search in Valmiera – was also promoted by various means to the private sector. Approximately half of the participants were primarily interested in the Priority 2 of the Programme and attended the respective workshop.
Towards the end of the year the interest of private sector companies in the Programme had increased, which was demonstrated by the profile of participants in Programme’s events and consulted organizations.
There are also some other factors that seem to be common to all organisations eligible for submitting an application in the framework of the Programme:
- According to the Programme’s survey and seminar feedback questionnaire, the main obstacles faced by the potential applicants are pre-financing and co-financing (marked as very important to “crucial/ decisive” factors), followed by lack of time, and problems of medium importance, such as lack of partners, human resources and project writing skills, complex administrative requirements, problems with investment support, conditions that do not match the ideas, as well as more appropriate or convenient alternative support programmes.
- Many of the potential applicants have dropped during the phase of project writing, when facing various conditions, limitations and complex administrative requirements. Many of the seminar attendees admit they have been attending all kinds of informative seminars on available support programmes, especially in the context of major cuts in many other national funds. However, there is little experience and no readiness to get into the complex framework and regulations of our Programme;
- Particular concern expressed during the Programme seminars and consultations is the proof of project sustainability required by the Programme. This is felt as a serious obstacle in the current unstable financial situation, especially by the non- governmental organizations (but also smaller public and private applicants);
- Due to wide promotion activities, the Programme has attracted a large number of new organisations, who have prepared project applications. As many of them are not
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 33
experienced in cross-border cooperation and preparing cross-border cooperation projects, the average quality of projects has been relatively low.
- “Mouth to mouth” message has spread about the Estonia – Latvia Programme as “very strict” compared to other ETC programmes – this has been reported by some applicants in the seminar feedback, as well as during the consultations. “Strictness” has been attributed to the understanding of cross-border cooperation, investment support, as well as sustainability issues.
The JTS has made efforts to reduce these fears by providing substantial support to the project applicants. Information days are held in the Programme area in Estonia and Latvia introducing Programme requirements, the personnel of JTS attends meetings organised by local municipalities and other organisations, where they introduce the Programme and explain the process of application. On a daily basis the programme consultants provide consultations and advice in the JTS office in Tartu, as well as in the info-point in Riga. The European Union aid programmes have their specific requirements and these should be followed, however, it could be expected that successful projects outweigh the administrative burden.
2.4 Changes in the context of the operational programme implementation
Global economic recession and difficult budgetary times in Estonia and Latvia affect also implementation of the Estonia – Latvia Programme. In general, applicants and project partners are facing more difficulties in finding funds for covering their own co-financing and bridge financing to cover the costs of project implementation, until these are reimbursed by the Programme. Fortunately, this did not lead to early termination of any project in 2009. So far there have been two cases, where a partner has stepped out from an approved project.
- In project “One vacation, two countries” the lead partner of the project from Latvia stepped out from the project, as the municipality could not afford covering their own co-financing of the project. The role of the lead partner was taken over by another Latvian partner. - In a project “FireSafe” one Estonian partner left the project, as the organisation could not afford participation in the project. The role was partly taken over by another Estonian partner.
In addition, some beneficiaries have postponed either the start of the project or some activities within the project.
In general, institutions in Estonia and Latvia have become very cautious in using their budgetary resources in 2009 for co-financing projects, and rather use their limited budgets for covering primary and unavoidable costs. As usually cross-border cooperation is not a primary need for organisations, project ideas might be put on hold for the time being.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 34
In addition, the awareness survey of the Programme showed that lack of funds to cover partners’ own co-financing and absence of pre-financing possibilities are one of the main reasons for not submitting the project application. However, it is difficult to judge how big is the number of projects not being submitted due to global economic recession.
On the other hand it may be presumed that difficult budgetary situation of the institutions in Estonia and Latvia has increased the popularity of the EU support programmes. The Programme has received a number of applications, which are of very low quality from cross- border cooperation point of view and leave an impression that the applicants are trying at any cost to get funding for their local needs and ideas.
2.5 Substantial modifications under Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006
There have been no cases, which require substantial modification under Article 57 of Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006, in 2009.
2.6 Complementarity with other instruments
INTERACT programme has launched various networks between programmes, starting with MA network and heads of secretariat network in November 2009. The Programme was represented in both of those. The network meetings proved to be a good opportunity in exchanging and realizing the differences between the implementation set-ups of the programmes.
The information point of the Programme in Riga is working under the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes’ Riga Office, administered by State Regional Development Agency of Latvia. As several other CB programmes (Baltic Sea Region, Central Baltic, Latvia – Lithuania, Estonia – Latvia – Russia) have their office, branch office or info point also under the same institution, it facilitates information exchange between the Programmes.
These programmes have compiled a comparative table with the basic data of the various programmes active in northern part of the Baltic Sea. This table is now available as a joint information tool on all Programmes’ websites, and it is being further updated by the INTERACT programme (which provides coordination and support for the various European Territorial Cooperation programmes).
People working for different programmes located in Riga office hold monthly meetings to brief each other on the ongoing issues in their programmes. These meetings are usually attended by the information manager of the Estonia – Latvia Programme, but sometimes also by Programme consultants who come to Riga office during the active consultation periods. Sharing information on relevant joint issues takes place also outside the meetings, thus supporting complementarity between programmes. Often joint information seminars are organized for different ETC programmes (when the call times and programme areas overlap), especially for the Estonia – Latvia and Central Baltic Programme INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013. Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 35
As the JTS is hosted by Enterprise Estonia, which implements a large number of different EU and national support programmes for a similar target group in Estonia, the JTS staff often discusses different matters (revenue generating issues, attraction of private partners, construction requirements, etc) with persons implementing Estonian national programmes. In order to avoid double-financing the JTS staff checks financing decisions of other programmes stored in Enterprise Estonia database, which are linked to our applicants. On the Latvian side, similar procedures are carried out by Latvian National Responsible Authority.
Also, in the application form the applicants are asked to describe any links to on-going and/or finalised related programmes, projects and activities, and explain the added value to be created through a particular project. At the same time, the lead partners confirm by signing the application form, that the project, either in whole or in part, has not received or will not receive any complementary EU funding during the whole duration of the project. During the past project assessments no major issues have been raised regarding possible overlapping, however in certain cases some applicants have been asked to specify in detail the difference between earlier financed projects and current applications.
2.7 Monitoring and evaluation
The general basis for all the actions related to the proceedings of the project application and reports are the Programme Manual, Rules of the Monitoring Committee (approved by the MC in 2008), Assessment Methodology.
The technical tool for the proceedings regarding project application and monitoring of the projects is Navision (internal database of the Enterprise Estonia for project related information, adjusted for the needs of Estonia – Latvia Programme). All documents related to different project processing steps are uploaded in Navision, which enables to follow the progress of a particular project.
In 2009 several shortcomings were eliminated and some software developments were introduced to make processing of projects of the Estonia – Latvia Programme more fluent in Navision.
On a project level, the JTS is carrying out site visits to each running project once during each milestone. The Programme consultants also try to participate in major project events or openings of investment objects. These visits significantly help the JTS staff to get a real overview of the project activities and partners, and establish stronger working relationship with the project staff. During the site visit, the “Site-visit form” is completed, where the results of the visit are described.
The site visits are also carried out by Estonian and Latvian FLC bodies. They, inter alia, check the accuracy of the accounting system and the correct filing of documentation including
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 36 public procurement documents, verify themselves on the existence of the goods and services procured or delivered during the Programme.
The First Level controllers check the Partner Reports and ultimately issue a confirmation on the acceptance of the Report to the Lead Partner of the project. Relevant information is also sent to the project partner. On the basis of the approved Partner Reports the Lead Partner compiles a Progress Report, which is sent to the JTS for approval and for further submission for a payment.
Each Progress Report, when submitted for a payment to the CA, is accompanied by a letter signed by the Head of the JTS confirming that the project has been so far duly implemented, is in accordance with all set requirements and the applied amount comprises of eligible expenditure only.
On the Programme level, the Managing Authority follows, through information received from the JTS, FLC or from Navision, the implementation of the projects. Following each quarter, the Managing Authority submits a confirmation letter to the Certifying Authority on due implementation of the Programme. The letter is accompanied by a site-visit table, which summarises the information of the visits carried out by JTS and FLC. In case some shortcomings are identified, a deadline is provided for their elimination in the site-visit table. Meeting this deadline is followed. No irregularities were detected in 2009.
In December 2009 Terms of Reference of the Programme evaluation were prepared and sent to the MC for approval via written procedure. Call for tender was launched in January 2010, and the evaluation will be finalised by the middle of 2010.
The main evaluation questions were as follows:
1. Are the Programme strategy and objectives being met so far?
2. Are the strategy and objectives relevant and serve the needs of the Programme area in the light of the current situation, taking into account context indicators and socio- economic context of the Programme?
3. Which are the constraints (internal and/or external) that have affected progress of the Programme? How the Programme should adapt?
4. Functionality of the programme indicators: do the indicator definitions cover the directions of support and priorities of the Programme? How strong is connection between the indicators and the directions of support? How strong is connection between the indicators and the priorities? Are target values of the indictors appropriate, taking into account the current financial commitments of the Programme?
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 37
5. Which are the constraints (internal and/or external) for participation of private entrepreneurs in the Programme as project partners? How could participation of private entrepreneurs be increased?
Each evaluation theme also requires that evaluator proposes a set of recommendations to improve the situation.
2.8 Baltic Sea Strategy
The Baltic Sea Strategy (hereinafter also referred to as “the Strategy”) was approved by the Council of the European Union on 29 October 2009. At this time the Estonia – Latvia Programme was already running with ca 50% of ERDF funds being committed. The Baltic Sea Strategy is targeted at macro-regions and is expected to have wider regional impact. The Estonia – Latvia Programme is rather small-scale compared to other cross-border or regional programmes. The Programme is mainly targeted at improving socio-economic environment and boosting community life in the Programme area, which covers quite limited geographical territory. Also, the Programme does not involve activities of major international importance. Therefore, the projects do not have a wider or direct effect on the Baltic Sea Region and that is why so far finding direct connections to the Baltic Sea Strategy has not been taken on board within the Programme.
Nevertheless, it has been decided to identify the link with Baltic Sea Strategy as regards the projects implemented within the Programme. However, the procedure should be simple and put no extra obligations on the applicants. The application form will not be changed and the applicants do not have to include any reference to the Strategy. Also, it will not be taken into account in evaluation, the applicants will not get any extra points due to the relation/non- relation to the Strategy. The link with the Strategy will be identified with the approved projects by the Joint Technical Secretariat and the information will be uploaded on the Programme web-site.
Below, some projects are listed, which have a link with and contribute to the Baltic Sea Strategy, mainly with the following Strategy’s priority areas:
- 7 “To exploit the full potential of the region in research and innovation” – projects “Boost BioBusiness”, “SIBNET” - 8 “Implementing the Small Business Act: to promote entrepreneurship, strengthen SMEs and increase the efficient use of human resources”, which links particularly to the Programme’s 2nd priority. In our Programme, the projects “GoodFruit” as well as “SIBNET” can be associated with this direction. - 9 “To reinforce sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries”, under which the support for “sustainable rural development” and “agriculture production methods” have also been addressed by Programme. A project “DEMOFARM” can be mentioned here as an example.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 38
- 12 “To maintain and reinforce attractiveness of the Baltic Sea region in particular through education, tourism and health” This direction is related to the projects “Beach Hopping”, BayLink”, ViSoEst by bike”, “One Vacation, Two Countries”.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 39
3 IMPLEMENTATION BY PRIORITY
Chart 1. Available and committed funding by the end of 2009
3.1 Priority 1 “Increased cohesion of the Programme area”
3.1.1 Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress
Table 7. Overview of the fulfilment of indicators under the first priority Baseline - Achievement Programme Fulfilment % Indicator Objective 2007 - 2009 target - 2015 - 2009
Priority 1. Increased cohesion of the Programme area
Number of projects Improved physical creating new or connectivity of the improving the existing Programme area 0 2 10 20% cross-border transport connection links
Number of projects Improved physical improving access to ICT connectivity of the 0 1 10 10% networks or services Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint developing joint use of management of public 0 2 5 40% infrastructure services and resources
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 40
in the Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint developing management of public 0 4 5 80% collaboration in the field services and resources of public services in the Programme area
Number of projects Enhanced joint finding joint solutions to management of public 0 4 10 40% similar environmental services and resources problems in the Programme area
Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 892 300 297% education or training target group activities
Table 8. Priority 1 by direction of support
Direction of support ERDF ERDF ERDF % of ERDF paid allocation committed committed committed 2009 total ERDF 1.1 Reducing isolation through improved internal and external connectivity of 6 536 584 6 536 584 60% 0,00 the Programme area 17 967 418 1.2 Enhancing joint management of public 4 396 861 4 396 861 40% 28 992,34 services and resources Total 10 933 445 10 933 445 100% 28 992,34
In total, seven projects have been supported under priority 1, two projects under direction of support 1.1 and five under direction of support 1.2. All projects under this priority were approved in 2009. Private partners are involved in one project – “BayLink” with the ERDF contribution of 311 019,00 EUR. The available amount for this priority is 7 033 973 EUR including the amount available for private partners of 688 981 EUR. Here the largest project of the Programme, “Construction of Karksi-Nuia – Seda river”, with the ERDF budget of 5 175 779,00 EUR is financed.
Although the allocation into this priority is the largest among three, the amount paid out by the beneficiaries is rather modest. This can be partly explained by the delayed start of the project “Construction of Karksi-Nuia – Seda river”. The commencement of the project was postponed due to difficult economical situation in both countries. The project started in April 2010.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 41
The other factor for a modest payment figure is that the project budgets have decreased as many goods and services have become cheaper due to the economic recession. For the same reason, the project partners have postponed their activities to later periods where possible.
From the indicator table it can be seen that except the last one, all indicators are under- fulfilled. Whereas it is expected that target values of indicators no 4 and 5 can still be met by the end of the Programme period, the indicators no 1 and 2 will probably remain under- fulfilled. The reasons for this have been outlined in following passage. However, in the light of the current situation and following the evaluation results, these indicators should be probably re-estimated.
3.1.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them
Indicator no 2 “Number of projects improving access to ICT networks or services is fulfilled only by 10% compared to the target and indicator no 1 “Number of projects creating new or improving the existing cross-border transport connection links”, is fulfilled by 20% compared to the target. Both indicators are difficult to fulfil.
The reasons for indicator on ICT networks and services being under fulfilled include:
- in most cases the topic of ICT networks and services is dealt with on a national level and the number of possible joint cross-border projects in this field is limited;
- cooperation in the ICT field differs from the standard model of cooperation, since it involves significantly less human interactions and joint activities. Therefore it is more difficult to fit the ideas in the Programme framework;
- there are various other mainstream, national and international programmes for the support of ICT innovations, export etc. - for example, programmes administered by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency;
- small interest of the applicants towards the given topic.
The reasons for indicator on transport connection links being under fulfilled include:
- the number of possible transport connection links to be created or improved between Estonia and Latvia is limited, hence the choice of possible project “sites” is limited, especially the choice of project “sites”, which “owners” would be willing to compile a joint project application;
- the current financial situation is not favourable for developing new routes or connections, since the transport firms are facing serious struggles for survival. For example, the connecting bus lines are often forced to operate without profit, and companies admit this is not the time to take on risky investments, even if they could afford it;
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 42
- the maximum grant size offered by the Programme to a single project (normally 2 million EUR, but MC can grant higher sums in exceptional cases) is not sufficient for projects in the field of transport connection links;
- more expensive projects mean more co-financing to be provided by the partners, which becomes a problematic factor.
JTS has stressed at information seminars organised by the JTS, presentations on the Programme at events organised by other stakeholders, during individual consultations, in the Programme newsletter and website that projects in the field of ICT and transport are especially encouraged to submit their applications. Various field institutions and umbrella associations were contacted directly through phone or email in February and March and offered individual consultations. These efforts have had some effect, but the number of approved projects, which would fulfil these two indicators, remains low.
3.2 Priority 2 “Higher competitiveness of the Programme area” 3.2.1 Achievement of the targets and analysis of the progress
Table 9. Overview of the fulfilment of indicators under the second priority
Baseline Achievement Programme Fulfilment Indicator Objective - 2007 - 2009 target - 2015 % - 2009 Priority 2. Higher competitiveness of the Programme area
1.Number of projects Increased overall promoting entrepreneurial economic 0 8 15 53% spirit and skills competitiveness of the Programme area
2.Number of projects Increased overall supporting the development economic 0 6 20 30% of economic activities with competitiveness of the higher value added Programme area
3.Number of projects Increased overall encouraging the economic 0 4 10 40% development of cross- competitiveness of the border trade Programme area
4.Number of co-operation Increased overall projects between economic 0 4 10 40% enterprises and research or competitiveness of the education institutions Programme area
5.Number of new or Increased improved joint tourism attractiveness of the 0 5 20 25% products or services Programme area for visitors
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 43
6.Number of projects Increased developing joint use of attractiveness of the 0 5 10 50% infrastructure Programme area for visitors
7.Number of entrepreneurs Increased capacity of benefiting from the projects business operators in aimed at improving the the Programme area 0 416 300 139% business environment
8.Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 1 835 1 400 131% education or training target group activities
Table 10. Priority 2 by direction of support
Direction of support ERDF ERDF committed ERDF committed % of ERDF paid allocation 2009 total committed ERDF 2.1. Facilitating business 1 165 309 2 799 559 31 % 503 131,40 start-up and development 2.2. Increasing the attractiveness of the 2 566 154 6 163 510 69% 32 534,09 Programme area 14 373 934 2.3. Enhancing employable skills and 0,00 0,00 0,00% 0,00 human resources Total 3 731 463 8 963 069 100% 535 665,49
All in all ten projects have been financed under priority 2, five under direction of support 2.1 and five under direction of support 2.2. Of the ten projects, seven were approved in 2009. A private partner is involved in one project – “GoodFruit” with the ERDF allocation of 185 000 EUR. The amount still available is 5 410 865 EUR including amount available for private partners of 1 722 296 EUR. There are still no projects approved under priority 2.3. This problem is tackled in the following passage outlining significant problems concerning the priority. The expenditure paid out by project beneficiaries was to some extent below the prognosis. The reasons are by large the same as under priority 1, only under priority 1 one large project has an impact on the whole priority.
As for the indicators, apart from the last two, the indicators are under-fulfilled. Obviously, following the evaluation, the revision of indicators will be considered. It should also be taken into account that the direction of support 2.2 is closed since March 5, 2009 as after the MC meeting in February, over 50% of the funds of the priority 2 had been committed to this direction of support. However, as the indicators are not linked to a particular direction of
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 44 support, contribution to the fulfilment can come from all directions of support of the priority.
3.2.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them
Under Priority Axis 2 still no projects are approved under direction of support 2.3, which focuses on enhancing employable skills and human resources, although altogether 10 project applications were submitted under given direction of support in 2009.
It has been pointed out during the various information seminars and in the programme newsletter that there are currently no projects in this field. Yet no specific measures were taken to directly address the targeted organizations in 2009. Some associations active in the area attended the Programme contact forum and were subsequently consulted. One of the problematic aspects under this direction of support appears to be the language barrier, as there is limited scope of activities to be carried out jointly, and the cross-border workforce mobility is low.
As no Programme indicators are linked solely to the direction of support 2.3, the smaller number of projects under this direction of support does not affect fulfilment of the Programme indicators.
The criteria of future calls might be designed to encourage submission of applications under direction of support 2.3.
3.3 Priority 3 “Active, sustainable and integrated communities” 3.3.1 Achievement of targets and analysis of the progress
Table 11. Fulfilment of the indicators under the third priority
Baseline - Achievement Programme Fulfilment % Indicator Objective 2007 - 2009 target - 2015 - 2009
Priority 3. Active, sustainable and integrated communities
Number of projects Improved availability of improving services for services in the 0 15 10 150% the communities Programme area
Number of projects Increased activity of the increasing the activity of local communities 0 15 10 150% local communities
Number of rural Increased activity of municipalities involved local communities in the 0 36 80 45% in project Programme area implementation
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 45
Number of non- Increased activity of governmental local communities in the organisations involved Programme area 0 18 40 45% in project implementation
Number of participants Increased social and benefiting from joint cultural integration of 0 20 185 40 000 50% social and cultural the people in the activities Programme area
Number of people Increased knowledge participating in joint and capacity of the 0 893 300 298% education or training target group activities
Table 12. Priority 3 by direction of support
Direction of support ERDF ERDF ERDF % of ERDF paid allocation committed committed committed 2009 total ERDF 3.1 Improving the environment for active and sustainable communities 185 552,16 291 975 1 140 625 46%
3 593 484 3.2. Promoting grass-root level actions 1 067 573 1 359 548 54% 168 464,53
Total 1 359 548 2 500 173 100% 354 016,69
All in all eleven projects have been financed under this priority, four projects under direction of support 3.1 and seven projects under the direction of support 3.2. In 2009, seven projects were approved under priority 3. The available amount for this priority is 1 093 311 EUR. Compared to the volumes of the priorities 1 and 2 the percent of the paid amount is larger. Under priority 3, mainly smaller-scale projects are financed, the ERDF contribution to the biggest project is 291 975 EUR. As the projects are mainly targeted at cooperation between local communities and do not require large scale investments, the implementation is smoother.
The fulfilment of indicators is better compared to the other two priorities and it can be expected that by the end of the Programme the indicator targets are met. Under this priority, the direction of support 3.1 is closed due to the reasons referred to in the chapter 2.1.6 Qualitative analysis. This however should not influence the fulfilment of indicators as these are not directly related to a particular direction of support.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 46
3.3.2 Significant problems encountered and measures taken to overcome them
There is one problematic project within the priority, “Promotion of local communities of Stende and Võhma”, the ERDF contribution of which is 275 665 EUR. Although the positive financing decision was made for the project by the MC already in Haapsalu on 23-25 September 2008, the subsidy contract has not been signed yet. In the framework of the project an open-air stage was designed to be built. This construction caused opposition among local inhabitants, who subsequently filed an action against Võhma Town Government on the absence of the detailed planning of the area where an open-air stage was supposed to be built. In this case however, the detailed planning was not necessary but according to the law, the town government had to issue a respective official decision, which was also the ruling of the court. In addition, according to the requirements of the Health Inspection, the investments had to be re-designed as noise during the events would have exceeded the permitted level. The partners were told to respectively change their project application, to acquire all necessary permits and to submit the Request for Changes to the JTS. However, as of the end of 2009 this has not been done. The partners have been notified on the urgency to act as regards the project, otherwise it may lead to the cancellation of the financing decision.
There were no other significant problems in implementing priority 3 in 2009 and interest towards the priority was stable throughout the year. Also the problem stated in the annual implementation report 2008, that none of the projects approved under priority 3 fully carried the initial idea of that priority, which is people-to-people cross-border cooperation, was overcome in 2009 and 7 new projects with strong “soft” cooperation element were approved under priority 3 in 2009. One of the remaining problems is that often the small community level organizations and small rural municipalities do not have the necessary resources to apply for the Programme’s funding – they face lack of pre-financing, lack of co- financing, as well as the skills for project writing and implementation. It explains why the supported projects are usually carried out by bigger players or larger networks, even if they are for the benefit of the small local communities.
4 MAJOR PROJECTS
Financing of major projects is not applicable in the framework of the Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013.
5 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
The overall allocation of Technical Assistance (TA) in the Programme is 6 413 396 EUR and the Community funding is 2 293 713 EUR. In 2009, the total of TA eligible costs amounted to 480 581,56 EUR. The TA ERDF co-financing rate is 35.76%, thus in 2009 the ERDF contribution amounted to 171 855,97 EUR and corresponding national public contribution was 308 725,59 EUR. The total amount of TA costs in 2007-2009 is 848 849,56 EUR and
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 47 corresponding Community funding is 303 548,60 EUR, which makes up 13.23% of the ERDF contribution allocated to the Programme.
The more detailed report of individual budget lines is presented in table 10. It should be mentioned that in the planned budget, the costs for Riga info point were not specified but were incorporated in the costs of JTS. In the TA reports, though, the Riga info point costs have been separately identified due to the fact that they have been controlled by the Latvian FLC whereas the other costs of the JTS have been confirmed by the Estonian FLC.
In most cases the actual expenditure remained below the planned budget. However, within the JTS’ budget two items were over-spent. These were the budget lines “Database” (over- spent by 2 078 EUR) and “Publicity and marketing” (over-spent by 10 936 EUR). The budget for “Database” was exceeded because the payment supposed to be made in 2008 for the works carried out in 2008 was made in January 2009. The database costs in 2008 were very modest, 384,62 EUR, compared to the budget of 13 773 EUR, and 2009 budget did not have sufficient financial resources to cover all relevant costs.
The reason for exceeding the budget line for “Publicity and marketing” are the following: during the 4th quarter of 2009 JTS carried out extensive publicity activities of the Programme in the frame of annual major information activity. As it was the first year during the Programme implementation, when such activity was carried out and there was no clear basis for planning the costs, the budget for the event was too modest. In addition, the event was carried out in two stages: two contact-making trips for Estonian and Latvian food and timber processing entrepreneurs and a contact forum for potential applicants. This increased the costs of the annual information activity but was necessary to attract private companies to the Programme. The extra costs for both over-expenditures could be covered from the budget line “Office expenses”, which was under-spent by 32 944,48 EUR.
The Joint Technical Secretariat submitted an official request to the Managing Authority to approve these over-expenditures and the Managing Authority issued its letter of approval on 20 April 2010.
The most prominent item of the TA expenditure report is labour costs. However, the labour costs of the MA/CA/AA as well as the JTS did not reach the planned budget. This was due to the general salary policy applied in Estonian public administration in 2009. The MA and the JTS were under-staffed for some period in 2009, which was also one reason for lower staff costs. The estimates were based on earlier calculations.
Explanation of JTS costs: The labour costs include the salaries of the Head of the Secretariat, four Programme consultants, one information point employee, one office assistant (part-time) and share of staff costs of support personnel at the State Regional Development Agency hosting Information Point in Riga as well as staff training costs.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 48
Office expenses include JTS office costs in Tartu (rent, utilities, stationary), office equipment, communication and translation costs; office costs of the Information Point in Riga (rent, utilities, stationary), office equipment and communication.
Travel costs include travel and accommodation costs of the JTS staff as well as leasing, fuel and maintenance of the car used by the personnel of the JTS.
Programme meetings’ costs include room rent and catering of MC meetings and other meetings related to Programme implementation.
Database costs include developing and updating the database of Enterprise Estonia, Navision, according to the Programme needs.
External expertise, analysis costs include the following items:
- Assessment of project applications by Estonian and Latvian independent thematic experts; - Assessment of construction documentation attached to project applications by construction experts; - Carrying out financial analysis for the projects with a total budget over 1 million.
Publicity and marketing costs include annual major information activity of the Programme held in the beginning of December 2009 in Valmiera, events for the running projects, information seminars, website developments, newsletter design and translation, production of promotional materials (posters, maps of the Programme, stickers, bookmarks, flags, banners, publications with approved projects).
Explanation of the MA/CA/AA costs: Labour costs include two full time employees of the MA, two part-time employees in the CA and two part part-time employees in the AA.
Office expenses include overhead costs (room rent, bureau equipment), translation costs, training participation fees for the Programme staff, catering at meetings related to the Programme implementation.
Travel and accommodation costs include travel and accommodation costs, daily allowances of the Programme staff of MA, CA and AA as well as necessary travel insurance.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 49
Table 13. Cumulative use of Technical Assistance
Reporting period Eligible Planned budget Eligible Total eligible 01.01.2009- expenditure 2009 expenditure in expenditure 31.12.2009 2007+2008 2009 2007+2008+2009
Joint Technical Secretariat Labour costs 158 099,52 224 227,00 154 364,09 312 463,61 Office expenses 48 283,56 54 798,00 21 853,52 70 137,08 Travel and 9 723,30 26 076,00 18 401,10 28 124,40 accommodation Programme 3 534,60 11 504,00 8 912,78 12 447,38 Meetings (MC) Database 384,62 9 906,00 11 983,56 12 368,18 External expertise, 15 368,42 77 333,00 70 507,38 85 875,80 analysis Publicity and 32 730,94 37 708,00 48 643,73 81 374,67 marketing Riga Info Point 20 048,57 44 749,15 64 797,72 TOTAL JTS 288 173,53 441 602,00 379 415,3314 667 588,86
MA/CA/AA Labour costs 68 107,40 103 700,00 79 897,04 148 004,44 Office expenses 4 874,81 30 062,00 12 709,21 17 584,02 Travel and accommodation 7 112,2615 11 146,00 8 559,98 15 672,24 Total MA/CA/AA 80 094,47 144 908,00 101 166,23 181 260,70 Total JTS+MA/CA/AA 368 268,00 586 510,00 480 581,56 848 849,56
14 Rounding correction EUR 0,02 according to Excel base tables 15 Adjusted according to certified amounts Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 50
6 INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY
6.1 Publicity of the Programme
The information and publicity activities are carried out in accordance with the Communication Plan approved by the European Commission in January 2009.
The following information events were carried out in 2009:
Contact forum for potential applicants (mostly targeting entrepreneurs; carried out within the frames of annual activity of the Programme);
Networking field trips for entrepreneurs (2 thematic bus trips, as part of the annual activity of the Programme);
Information seminars (11 events);
Presentations about the Programme at externally organized seminars (9 events);
Distribution of Programme information at large public events and thematic fairs organized by other stakeholders, including brief presentations where possible (7 events);
Dissemination of Programme information in cooperation with intermediaries;
Targeted activities for less popular fields (personal e-mails to organizations in ICT and transport fields followed by some meetings/ group consultations);
Seminars for partners of the approved projects (2 events);
Major improvements and regular updates of the Programme website;
Programme newsletter (2 editions);
Media activities;
Developing and updating of Programme info sheets and re-printing of other Programme give-away materials (mainly the foldable A3 maps Programme area and brief Programme info).
In the framework of the Programme’s annual activity, a contact forum for potential applicants was held on December 1 in Valmiera, Latvia. It was a one-day event, consisting of the main session with general information and three afternoon workshops according to the Programme’s priorities (considering the available directions of support). This was a major partner search event in 2009, and was thematically focused at the Estonian – Latvian cooperation, particularly in the business field. Along with other announcements, the contact forum was advertised through business intermediaries and business newspapers to attract more potential applicants from the private sector. The event brought together 213 Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 51 participants from various fields, including 85 representatives of private companies and a number of business associations.
As part of the annual information activity, two thematic networking field trips were organized for joint groups of Estonian and Latvian entrepreneurs in the food/ organic farming and timber businesses. After thorough consultations with various business intermediaries, regional institutions and journalists in both countries, these fields were selected as the ones with most potential for developing new cross-border ties and cooperation projects. Both were two-day trips and included visits to interesting companies on both sides of the border. The networking trip for food businesses took place on October 28-29, for the timber businesses – on November 4-5, with the participation of altogether 56 representatives of private companies and business associations.
During winter and spring, JTS organized information seminars for the potential applicants. Those were linked to the coming project submission deadline on 20 July. Seven seminars took place in Latvia (Cēsis, Valmiera, Smiltene, Limbaži, Talsi, Rīga) and four in Estonia (Põltsamaa, Pärnu, Võru, Karksi-Nuia). Three of the seminars (one in Cēsis and two in Valmiera on February 4-5) were organized jointly with the Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007-2013 due to largely overlapping information and following the preferences of the local municipalities. Altogether 201 persons participated in these information seminars.
In addition to the information seminars organized and initiated by JTS, the Programme was presented also at 11 externally organized seminars in both countries. These included:
- seminar for Estonian private companies in January (Tartu, Estonia), - Latvian Rural Forum seminar for local entrepreneurship development in February (Riga, Latvia), - seminar on EU funding instruments for project writers and especially entrepreneurs in March (Vaivari, Latvia), - seminar “How to get your share of the EU funding?” organised by Estonian business daily Äripäev in March (Tallinn, Estonia), - business events “Support Measures for Entrepreneurs” in October (Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia), - information seminar of the Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme in June (Riga, Latvia), - information seminar for NGOs and entrepreneurs organized by the Alūksne and Ape Community Foundation in July (Jaunaluksne, Latvia), - Latvian Investment Development Agency (LIDA) seminar on current EU programmes for entrepreneurs on October 6 (Rīga, Latvia), - information seminar of the Latvia – Lithuania Cross-border Cooperation Programme on December 8 (Kuldīga, Latvia).
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 52
Also seven large public events and thematic fairs, especially for entrepreneurs, were used to promote the Programme – distribute the information materials and, where possible, provide a brief presentation. On May 1, the Programme was presented at the open air Europe Day celebration in Rīga, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Latvia and attended by approximately 10,000 people. On May 8-9, the Programme materials were exhibited at Vidzeme Business Days 2009 in Valmiera and on June 3 at a forum on EU funds organized by the Chamber of Commerce in Rīga. Programme presentations and information was also provided in autumn at the international exhibition “Riga Food 2009”, September 8-11 in Rīga, and Information Day of support programmes for business companies on October 7 in Tallinn. Later the Programme materials were distributed during the forum on economic cooperation in the Baltics organized by the Stockholm School of Economics Alumni Association in Riga on November 7 and Baltic Sea Strategy Seminar in Riga on November 12.
The Programme information has been regularly disseminated in cooperation with various intermediaries, including the planning regions in Latvia, county development centres in Estonia, Latvian Investment Development Agency, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and related Europe-Direct Centres in the regions, portal esfondi.lv administered by the Latvian Ministry of Finance, EU information centre “ES Māja” and others. Extended list of intermediaries has been added to the recipients of the Programme news. Some of the intermediaries have been provided with detailed Programme information and presentations for their particular events, like seminars for entrepreneurs organized by the Structural Funds info centre Kurzeme Planning Region in Skrunda, Liepāja, Talsi and Ventspils and meeting of the Environmental Consultative Board at the Ministry of Environment in Riga in March.
At the beginning of the year, JTS carried out targeted activities for the less popular Priority 1 after the funding decisions in 2008 and February 2009. Direct e-mails were sent out to organizations in ICT and transport fields, explaining the opportunities provided by the Programme. These were followed by some individual meetings/ small group consultations with organizations that showed interest, like Small Harbours’ Association, IT Department of the Vidzeme University, the Transport Park of Valmiera and the Ministry of Agriculture in Latvia (on public services for the support of small rural producers).
Throughout the year JTS was continuously consulting and assisting (potential) applicants over e-mail, phone and in live consultations. Altogether, 161 live individual consultations were held at the JTS office in Tartu and Information Point in Riga, and more after various seminars and events.
The Programme website http://www.estlat.eu/ has been significantly improved with the help of new content management system and visual design (developed in February – March) that allowed presenting the Programme information much more effectively. Detailed and structured information was provided in sections for project applicants and project partners; Programme beneficiaries were published in a searchable database of the approved projects; possibility to share ideas online and contacts of intermediary institutions was provided to
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 53 help potential applicants with partner search; and improved news section has been constantly updated with the latest Programme information and project events. For convenience of those who are facing language barrier, essential Programme information and documents were provided also in separate sections in the Latvian and Estonian languages.
The Programme newsletter was issued in January, June and November, with detailed information on the approved projects, coming call for proposals and successful project activities. To enable more people to read the newsletter, it was issued in the English, as well as Estonian and Latvian languages. Approximately 2,000 recipients received the newsletter directly including intermediaries that have been helping to communicate the Programme news further.
Following the project selections in February, May and November, as well as some interesting project activities, press releases have been sent to the media and received coverage in some of the central media and a number of regional portals and newspapers. Also a thematic article has been published in the magazine “Baltijas Koks” (Baltic Wood) after the timber trip in November. Announcements of the contact forum and seminars for the coming call for proposals were published in the central and regional newspapers, as well as the major business papers in Estonia and Latvia.
The information about the Programme has been summarized in an information sheet, briefly describing the Programme and application criteria and announcing the coming deadlines for project submission. This info sheet has been regularly updated and distributed at various events, as well as to the intermediaries. Also some other Programme presentation tools and give-away items have been produced like posters and roll-ups to be used by JTS and project partners. Some items have re-printed - mainly the brochure-type pocket size maps and light reflectors.
Following the financing decisions, eight seminars for partners of the approved projects were held in March, September and December (4 in Latvia (Riga) and 4 in Estonia (3 in Tartu, 1 in Tallinn). These were organized in cooperation with the first-level control institutions and focused on the reporting requirements, eligibility rules and publicity requirements. The aim of the seminars was to provide clear guidance and explain in detail each partner’s obligations during the project implementation. More events for support of the project partners and successful project implementation followed in 2010.
6.2 Feedback and awareness survey of the Programme
A comprehensive feedback and awareness survey of the Estonia – Latvia Programme was arranged and performed in summer and autumn of 2009, in order to assess the 1) awareness of the potential beneficiaries about the Programme, 2) obtain useful feedback regarding their general interest in cross-border cooperation with partners in Estonia/ Latvia, and 3) assess the interest and obstacles in participating with projects in the Estonia – Latvia Programme and track the potential obstacles for participation.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 54
The survey involved altogether 500 respondents (250 from both countries) and presented mainly a random sample of the potential applicants of the Programme. However, the survey unavoidably involved a wider sample, as no statistical classifications and categorizations directly corresponding to the topics supported by the Programme were available. Yet it helped to track the general interest in cross-border cooperation and see how awareness, interest and obstacles differ by country or sector groups, thus drawing a better profile of the potential applicants of the Estonia – Latvia Programme.
The survey results have been continuously analysed when planning the approach and information activities for various groups. The summary report of the survey results is published on the Programme’s website and circulated around to the other ETC programmes. The summary of the survey is concluded below:
Awareness
The overall level of awareness about the Programme in the studied sample is generally low, as it could be expected considering the wide respondent sample and the Programme’s relatively small size and specific cross-border nature. The awareness about the Programme is equal to the awareness about the ETC/ INTERREG programmes altogether, which face exactly the same context.
The awareness of the Estonia – Latvia Programme is linked to the interest in cross-border cooperation with Estonia or Latvia, as well as with the readiness to search for information (medium correlation).
There is, of course, higher awareness of the EU programmes in general, and many of the respondents have applied or participated in some of those. The programmes, in which the respondents have participated, and also the fields associated with the EU programmes, vary greatly. It can be concluded that people do have the general awareness of the EU programmes/ contribution; however, one normally does not differentiate among the large variety of different and field-specific EU funded programmes.
Interest and readiness for cross-border cooperation The findings show that the interest in cooperation with similar organizations (potential project partners) in the other country varies greatly among the sectors, as well as among the countries.
The interest is significantly lower in the private sector, which is linked to the fact that private companies more often see themselves as competitors or do not see a need for any cross- border cooperation in their field.
Although both countries are interested in the mutual cooperation, the interest is higher in Latvia than in Estonia. It can be said that Latvian organizations are generally more interested in cross-border cooperation with various countries, and are more ready to search for
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 55 information and partners to initiate such cooperation. It is therefore more likely to have the initiative on behalf of the Latvian partners in the Estonia – Latvia Programme. This finding helps to understand and explain the requests on behalf of the potential applicants from Latvia for assistance with the partner search.
There is also a significant link between the interest and cooperation experience of respondents. The organisations with higher interest are more likely to get cooperation experience, but it can also suggest that cooperation leads to successful experience and that increases the interest to cooperate further, i.e. gain more cooperation experience.
Despite the assumption that more interest in cooperation with partners in Lithuania and Finland could diminish potential applicants’ interest in our Programme, this survey proved the opposite. There were surprisingly high positive correlations between interest in the Estonia – Latvia cross-border cooperation and international cooperation with other countries. It allows to conclude that organizations interested in cross-border cooperation with other countries are also more likely to engage in cooperation with Estonian/ Latvian partners. This finding strongly supports joint efforts of the European Territorial Cooperation programmes, such as shared information seminars and other events that our Programme already practices. In the light of this survey, it is very realistic that our applicants come from the organizations already active in other cross-border programmes (as they have the cross- border interest and also familiarity with the general framework and requirements).
Obstacles for participation While generally the respondents have assessed the various obstacles for participation in our Programme and other programmes rather similarly, there are various significant differences among the groups and these are important to consider when trying to reach out to and work with the specific target groups. For example, it is visible that the private companies are often attracted by other more appropriate or convenient programmes and/or lack the information of the Estonia – Latvia Programme, which has to be addressed through continuous cooperation with business intermediaries and information centres on the EU funding, presentations at their seminars etc.
While Latvians are generally facing more problems to find the potential partners, Estonians see less need for cross-border cooperation in general and also with the Latvian partners specifically. The private sector companies in both countries feel more like competitors and are therefore reluctant to develop cooperation.
From sector comparisons, private companies seem to be suffering less from the common obstacles like lack of time, human resource, pre-financing and co-financing; however, it is important to consider here the fact that various obstacles have been assessed according to their relative importance for the moment. Once the respondent companies felt they were not interested in cooperation, the other obstacles probably were ultimately assessed as less important. It is very hard to say what the results would be like in case there was a serious Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 56 interest in cross-border cooperation – the same companies could then face and assess highly the obstacles they had not been considering before. The survey shows that the private sector respondents, who had expressed relatively high interest in cross-border cooperation, have marked the co-financing and pre-financing obstacles as dominating, just like the need for investments and preference of other more appropriate or convenient programmes.
The obstacles for participation in the Estonia – Latvia Programme tend to group, which was shown by the Multi Dimensional Scaling. The respondents can be generally divided in three main groups according to the kinds of obstacles they are facing, and these are:
1. Various financial obstacles – pre-financing, co-financing, investment support, financial commitments in the current situation; 2. Lack of interest - in the Estonia - Latvia Programme compared to other programmes, in cross-border cooperation in general and in cooperation with Latvians or Estonians specifically; 3. Technical, informative and human resource barriers – lack of time and human resources to write and implement project, lack of information and partners, lack of project writing and English skills.
While those organizations or companies less interested in cross-border cooperation are also less interesting to the Programme, the other two groups could have the potential and interest for cooperation, but are struggling with specific problems. Knowing the tendency for these problems to group, it is easier to plan possible support measures, as well as plan the further communications activities.
6.3 Use of the feedback in further Programme implementation
Based on the described opinion survey, feedback sheets at the Programme events and results of the questionnaire and interviews within the Programme evaluation, various steps will be taken to ensure successful run of the Programme and best possible solutions for the potential applicants.
- Continuous information work, especially in cooperation with the strategic intermediaries, to inform and attract the interest of organizations in the currently less popular fields;
- Discussion and consideration of the discovered problems and obstacles for the applicants while making strategic decisions at the Programme’s Monitoring Committee meetings; - More partner search events to help the potential applicants establish contacts and come up with projects. A larger contact forum is planned also in 2010, and other steps might be taken within specific fields upon need; - Cooperation among the different ETC programmes on information events; - Trainings and seminars for the running projects, to ensure smooth project implementation and promotion of their successful work. Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 57
7 ANNEXES
Annex 1.
Terms of reference: evaluation of the Estonia – Latvia Programme
11 January 2010 Tartu, Estonia 1. Call for tenders Enterprise Estonia (hereinafter referred to as the “Contractor”), acting as host organisation of the Joint Technical Secretariat of the Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 (hereinafter referred to as the “Programme”), invites interested parties to participate in a tender of the Contractor “Evaluation of the Estonia – Latvia Programme” and submit your offer.
This tender document aims to set the framework for the evaluation of the Programme in accordance with (EC) 1083/2006 Articles 47 and 48.
2. Short description of the contractor
Contractor acts as host organisation of the Joint Technical Secretariat (hereinafter referred to as JTS) of the Programme, based on the administration agreement signed by the Estonian Ministry of the Interior and Contractor on April 9, 2008. JTS is located in Tartu and is supported by Information Point in Riga hosted by the State Regional Development Agency.
JTS is an important contact point for project applicants of the Programme, as it provides daily assistance to applicants and project managers during preparation and implementation of the projects. The JTS is also responsible for assessment and monitoring of the projects financed by the Programme.
3. Responsible person of the contractor
Peeter Unt
Head of the JTS
Estonia – Latvia Programme
Enterprise Estonia
Sõbra 56, 51013 Tartu
ESTONIA
Phone +372 51 07807
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 58
4. Short description of the procurement object
The aim of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness, relevance and performance of the Programme, as well as possible need to change the Operational Programme (Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013, CCI No. 2007 CB 163 PO 050).
5. Evaluation questions/themes required to be analysed
The assessment period covers the time period from approving the Programme by the European Commission on 21 December 2007 till 31 December 2009.
The evaluation questions and themes, which need to be analysed are as follows:
6. Are the Programme strategy and objectives being met so far?
7. Are the strategy and objectives relevant and serve the needs of the Programme area in the light of the current situation, taking into account context indicators and socio-economic context of the Programme?
8. Which are the constraints (internal and/or external) that have affected progress of the Programme? How the Programme should adapt?
9. Functionality of the programme indicators: do the indicator definitions cover the directions of support and priorities of the Programme? How strong is connection between the indicators and the directions of support? How strong is connection between the indicators and the priorities? Are target values of the indictors appropriate, taking into account the current financial commitments of the Programme?
10. Which are the constraints (internal and/or external) for participation of private entrepreneurs in the Programme as project partners? How could participation of private entrepreneurs be increased?
Each evaluation question is to be analysed and a set of recommendations has to be produced in the evaluation report. Report will include at least the following information:
Summary of the conclusions and recommendations,
An explanation of the methodology used including details of data sources and original research undertaken in relevant cases,
Clear division of chapters according to the evaluation questions set above,
Detailed conclusions and recommendations on every question to be analysed;
Proposals for amendments in the Operational Programme, if relevant,
Risk analysis of the Programme based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation.
6. Evaluation method and source of information Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 59
The approach on each evaluation question has to be in accordance with the themes and questions stated above, and the proposed methods have to present the tenderer’s view how to approach each evaluation question in more detail. This has to be done so that the full understanding of the evaluation task on each question is made clear.
The evaluation methods to be used must be explained in detail in the offer.
In addition to publicly available materials on the website of the Programme, the chosen evaluator will be provided with all the necessary information about the Programme (e.g. financial and project related data) by the JTS.
7. Requirements to the tenderer
Tenderer has to be a recognised organisation with sound experience and professional approach in carrying out similar evaluations.
Tenderer has to provide a list of references covering the past 3 years (since 1.01.2007) in the field of programme evaluations and other studies on the EU co-financed programmes either approved by the respective Monitoring Committee/other organ or by an organisation itself depending on the case. Experience in evaluations on any Interreg/Territorial Co-operation Programmes is regarded as an asset.
The list has to include approved evaluations and similar studies with the date of approval.
The offer must also include the list and CVs of the personnel, who will carry out the evaluation process. In case the personnel will change after the offer is submitted or during the overall evaluation process, the organisation carrying out the evaluation is obliged to inform the JTS immediately and to ensure that the new personnel possess equal qualifications.
The list has to include experts planned for the task with information about relevant qualifications (description of the work experience on past evaluations and other relevant studies).
The CVs have to be included in the offer and not as separate documents.
8. Time limit and other conditions
The company must be able to carry out the evaluation both in Estonia and Latvia, in the whole territory of the target groups (described above).
The language of the evaluation is English.
The company must be able to sign the contract and start the work in February 2010 and submit the draft final report by 10 May 2010. The contractor will provide its comments on the draft final report to the tenderer by 18 May 2010 and the tenderer must submit final evaluation report by 25 May 2010.
During the work process, the contracted company must be flexible to have working meetings in Tallinn (2-3 meetings altogether), and provide monthly updates on the progress of the evaluation.
The company will also participate in meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Programme in June 2010 (most likely week 24) in Estonia to present the results and final report. Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 60
Please do notice that even the finalised evaluation report sent to the Monitoring Committee may be rejected for various reasons. Therefore this must be taken into account by including the possibility for making various corrections/modifications/additions in the final evaluation report.
In case the Monitoring Committee requests amendments to the final evaluation report, these must be completed by 16 July 2010.
9. Guidelines for preparing the tender
The offers and price estimates should clearly follow the described tasks and requirements in this tender document. Tenderer does not have a right to link the tender to conditions, which do not derive from the tender documentation. Non-fulfilment of the requirements listed in the tender will result in rejection of the tender.
Offer must be submitted in English.
10. Structure of the tender
Tender must include:
1. Short introduction of the tenderer.
2. Contact details of the organisation:
- contacts (name, phone, email address) of the persons, who will work with the procurement object;
- website address of the organisation,
- legal status of the organisation,
- registration code,
- VAT registry number.
In case the offer is provided in the name of the consortium, the main contractor must be clearly identified in the offers as well as clear division of labour and responsibilities between the main and sub-contractors. The contract is only signed with the main contractor.
3. Action plan for evaluation with a time-schedule.
4. Explanation of methods to be used for each evaluation question and theme, as requested in point 6 of the tender document.
5. Primary and secondary data sources that will be used during the evaluation.
6. Total price estimate.
7. The list of references, as requested in point 7 of the tender document.
8. The list of experts planned for the evaluation, as requested in point 7 of the tender document.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 61
9. CVs of the experts planned for the evaluation, as requested in point 7 of the tender document.
10. Confirmation by the tenderer based on the attached template.
11. Price of the tender
Price of the tender has to be presented in EUR, including VAT in a separate column, and must include all the costs, which have to be covered by the Contractor.
Please use the following format for presenting the price of the tender.
1. Estimation of the needed working time in days
2. Daily rate
3. Travel costs
4. Total cost (without VAT)
5. Total cost (with VAT)
12. Tender submission deadline and mean
Tender has to be submitted over email to [email protected] on 10 February 2010, 12:00 p.m. the latest and posted on 10 February 2010 to the address:
Peeter Unt
Estonia – Latvia Programme
Enterprise Estonia
Sõbra 56, 51013 Tartu
ESTONIA
The submitted tenders have to be valid until 31 March 2010.
The e-mail must be marked with reference “Tender for the Estonia – Latvia Programme evaluation”.
13. Assessment criteria
The overall most advantageous tender will be approved, which is determined as follows:
The set of criteria consists of the three main criteria to which a coefficient is assigned. For each of the main criteria the scoring runs from one to five. The scoring will be judged in a following way:
1= Poor (NB! in case the information is missing or cannot be identified the offer will be rejected as invalid)
2= Tolerable
3= Satisfactory Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 62
4= Good
5= Excellent
The main criteria and their coefficients are as follows:
1. Evaluation methods, coefficient 40%
2. Relevant qualifications of the organisation and evaluators, coefficient 30%
3. Price, coefficient 30%
Incomplete tenders, which do not include all the information requested to evaluate the offers will be rejected as invalid. The tenderers having submitted a valid tender will be consulted in case there is a need to receive small clarifications in order to make the offers more comparable. However, the received tenders cannot be changed.
14. Contract and payment
After the approval of the offer, a contract will be signed between Enterprise Estonia and the organisation carrying out the evaluation, in which the specific conditions for the evaluation procedure are set according to the approved offer. The contract document shall be provided by Enterprise Estonia and the final content is based on mutual understanding of the parties concerned. In case of sub-contracting, the contract must include the division of labour and related responsibilities of each evaluator/sub-evaluator.
Enterprise Estonia will set a payment schedule for evaluation costs as follows:
1. The first payment (30% of the costs) within 10 working days after the agreement has been signed by both parties.
2. The second payment (70% of the costs) after the final evaluation report has been approved by the Programme’s Monitoring Committee (at next meeting to be held in June 2010 or via written procedure after the meeting in case of rejection).
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 63
Annex 2 Estonia – Latvia Programme 2007-2013 Work Plan 2009
Introduction
The annual work plan indicates the activities foreseen for the upcoming year, containing Joint Technical Secretariat (hereafter referred to as the “JTS”) work plan for the year 2009, as well as references to the main activities of the Managing Authority (hereafter referred to as the “MA”), Audit Authority (hereafter referred to as the “AA”) and Certifying Authority (hereafter referred to as the “CA”) laid down in Council Regulations (EC) No. 1080/2006 and 1083/2006 and in the Implementation Regulation (EC) No. 1828/2006.
The start-up activities of the programme – setting up the programme and its implementation structure – have been carried out mostly.
Administration Contract between the Estonian Ministry of the Interior and the foundation Enterprise Estonia from April 9, 2008 No 125 has been entered into to set up and host a JTS; as well as Host Agreement between Enterprise Estonia and State Regional Development Agency from June 4, 2008 No 1.1-8/08/785 about the hosting of the Information Point by the State Regional Development Agency in Riga. Agreement between the Estonian Ministry of the Interior (acting as the MA, the CA, and the AA), the Republic of Estonia and the Republic of Latvia on the management and administration of the Estonia-Latvia Programme has been signed by all counterparts. The Programme Manual of the Estonia – Latvia Programme provides overview of the planning and managing as well as guidance on the process from the preparation of the application to implementation, monitoring, reporting and finalisation of the projects. The document is available on the website of the Programme. The Programme website (www.estlat.eu) has been up and running since the beginning of 2008. It serves as the main source of all official Programme information, and contains relevant information for all the target groups of the Programme. During the first quarter of 2009 the website was updated by JTS. In the 1st quarter of 2009 the MA developed the Description of Management and Control Systems (hereinafter DMCS) of the Programme. The Compliance Assessment of the DMCS was carried out by AA in the 1st half of 2009. The amended DMCS and the Compliance Assessment Report was submitted to the EC in July 2009.
In 2009 most of the activities of different Programme institutions are focused on the daily Programme implementation. The activities of the JTS have been brought out with quantities, where possible.
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 64
Estonia-Latvia Programme 2007-2013
Jan
Oct
Feb
Sep
Dec
July
Aug
Nov
Mar
May June 2009 work plan April
Joint Technical Secretariat (6 persons)
Changing the content management system (CMS) of the website www.estlat.eu, updating the functions and appearance
Producing programme promotion materials and programme newsletter (3 newsletters, poster of the Programme, other give-away items)
Annual major information activity of the Programme
Concept ready
Discussions with the MA and the Commission
Detailed action plan and terms of reference ready
for a procurement
Individual consultations (face to face) with potential applicants during information seminars and in the JTS offices in Tartu and Riga (210 in total)
Consultation of project partners over phone and email
Information seminars with individual consultations (special attention paid to less active regions, participation of private entrepreneurs and less popular topics) (9 in total, 4 in Estonia, 5 in Latvia)
Special meetings with potential applicants of the priority 1 (8 in total)
First-level control and publicity seminars for partners of approved projects in Estonia and Latvia (4 in total, 2 in Estonia, 2 in Latvia)
Presenting the programme at the events organised by other stakeholders (25 in total)
Monitoring Committee meetings (3 meetings in
Latvia)
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 65
2008 TA report submitted to the MA
2009-2010 TA budget forecast and work plan submitted to the MA
Technical assistance reports submitted to Estonian first-level control body (4 reports in total)
Assessment of project applications (74
in total)
Training for external experts (1 joint training for
Latvian and Estonian experts)
Adjusting Enterprise Estonia database (Navision) to fully comply with the needs of the Estonia - Latvia Programme
Regular meetings with Estonian and Latvian first- level control bodies (2 meetings)
Preparing subsidy contracts for the MA (13 contracts)
Monitoring of approved projects (including site visits (20), checking progress reports (12), processing requests for changes (20), checking final report(1))
Carrying out public opinion survey (based on the requirements of the Communication Plan)
Concept ready
Discussions with the MA and the Commission
Detailed action plan and terms of reference ready
for a procurement
Preparing a final report form for the projects
Promotion of the EU day
Annual Implementation Report
Managing Authority (2 persons)
Ensuring overall management and control of the implementation of the Programme
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 66
Laying down the implementing arrangements for each operation in subsidy contract with the lead beneficiary after respective financing decision by the Monitoring Committee and signing of the Partnership Agreement (13 contracts)
Drafting the Description of the Management and Control Systems in collaboration with the AA and submitting to the Commission
Revision of the Description of Management and Control System, MA manual and supervisory activities as a result of Compliance Assessment
Revised Description of Management and Control
System ready and submitted to the EC
Drawing up and, after approval by the Monitoring Committee, submitting to the Commission the Annual Report on implementation
Preparing and amending the contracts and agreements, if necessary for the implementation of the Programme
Technical assistance reports submitted to Estonian first-level control body (4 reports in total)
Supervisory control of programme and project elements
Check the programme and project documents in
Navision (and RAR) information system
Check of the quarterly and annual reports of the
Programme institutions
Supervision of the use of funding by priority axes; following that the decisions of the MC are in accordance with the OP
Assessment of effectiveness of the Programme implementation system with regard to the implementation of the projects
Site-visits to the Programme institutions to ensure that all relevant work procedures are followed and the audit trail is kept
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 67
Developing simplification principles concerning programme implementation
Representing the MA in working groups and meetings, managing relations with the EC and other EU funded programmes
Certifying Authority (2x0,5 persons)
Sending the Commission a provisional forecast of its likely applications for payment for the current financial year and the subsequent financial year
Drawing up and submitting to the Commission certified statements of expenditure and applications for payment (Art 61 (a) of the (EC) No 1083/2006)
Certifying the accuracy and compliance of relevant Community rules of the statements of expenditure (Art 61 (b) of the EC No 1083/2006)
Making payments to the account of the lead partner
Making TA payments to the account of the
Enterprise Estonia
Audit Authority (0,5 persons)
Compiling compliance assessment report and opinion of the Management and Control Systems Description (Art 71 of Regulation EC No 1083/2006)
Auditing period of operations according to Art 16
(EC) No 1828/2006
System audit and audit report on the functioning of the MA (Article 60 of Regulation EC No 1083/2006)
Preparing and submitting to the Commission an Annual Control Report (Art 62 (d) of the (EC) No 1083/2006)
Estonia – Latvia Programme Annual Report 2009 68