QUARTERLY REPORT January 1 – March 31, 2019
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BELT DOO, BANJA LUKA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WORKFORCE AND HIGHER ACCESS TO MARKETS (WHAM) ACTIVITY QUARTERLY REPORT January 1 – March 31, 2019 DISCLAIMER “This report was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The opinions expressed herein are the sole responsibility of IESC and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.” CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS II ACTIVITY OVERVIEW 1 EXECUTIVE SUMARY 1 ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION 2 A. GRANTS 2 B. VOLUNTEER ASSIGNMENTS 12 C. SUMMARY OF INDICATORS 14 D. REQUESTS FOR APPLICATIONS (RFA) 16 KEY ACTIVITIES 17 FINANCES 17 CHALLENGES, LESSONS LEARNED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 18 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE NEXT REPORTING PERIOD 19 ANNEX A: LIST OF COMPANIES SUPPORTED BY WHAM ANNEX B: WAEL GAMALEDIN REPORT LIST OF ACRONYMS B2B Business-to-Business BAM Bosnia Mark BAS Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina BiH Bosnia and Herzegovina CNC Computer Numerical Controlling CoC RS Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska CoE FBiH Chamber of Economy of Federation of BIH EMC Electromagnetic compatibility EU European Union FBiH Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina FTC Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina FY Fiscal Year (October 1 to September 30) GDP Gross Domestic Product IEC International Electrotechnical Commission IESC International Executive Service Corps IMM International Interiors Show in Cologne, Germany ISO International Organization for Standardization IZB International Suppliers Fair LOP Life of Project PKUSK Chamber of Commerce of Una Sana Canton PREDA Agency for Economic Development of City Prijedor Q1/2/3/4 Quarter One/Two/Three/Four REZ Regional Development Agency of Central BiH RFA Request for Application RDA Regional Development Agency ROI Return on Investment RS Republic of Srpska SME Small to Medium-Size Enterprise STTA Short-term Technical Assistance US United States USAID United States Agency for International Development USD United States Dollar WHAM Workforce and Higher Access to Markets ACTIVITY OVERVIEW The Balkan country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is experiencing an estimated 3.2 percent annual growth in GDP1. Increasing exports and collaborating with market actors will further this growth, drive innovation, and increase opportunities for new employment and high-growth enterprise expansion. Closer interaction with the European Union (EU) and regional markets is key to the stability, growth, and renaissance of this important intersection for trade, relations, and culture between the East and West. The Workforce and Access to Higher Markets (WHAM) Activity is stimulating job creation by advancing BiH’s trade integration with, and expansion into, the EU and regional markets. The Activity is accomplishing this goal primarily via a grant program for BiH private enterprises. Grants prioritize high-growth, exporting or export-ready enterprises aiming to expand capacity, reach more markets, and generate employment. The Activity’s efforts focus on BiH organizations and enterprises working in, or linked to, three main sectors: wood processing, metal processing, and textile/footwear sectors. The Activity includes smaller high-growth enterprises by ensuring qualifying participation criteria can be measured as a percent of growth, not just the overall value of growth. The WHAM Activity includes the following three key intervention areas: Intervention 1: Workforce Development. The objective of this intervention is to help the BiH workforce gain the skills needed for employment in high-growth enterprises. Intervention 2: Access to Markets. The objective of this intervention is to support high-growth enterprises in identifying and accessing new customers in existing or new markets to increase exports from BiH. Intervention 3: Product Quality and Capacity Building. The objective of this intervention is to enable enterprises to meet the product and quality requirements of target markets in the EU and the region. The WHAM Activity is a USAID-funded activity implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), in conjunction with local sub-recipient ENOVA. The WHAM Activity is governed under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-168-LA-17-00001. The period of performance for the award is June 9, 2017 to June 8, 2020. This quarterly Activity performance report is submitted in accordance with Attachment A, Section A.5 Reporting and Evaluation, of the Cooperative Agreement. This report covers the period between January and March 2019. EXECUTIVE SUMARY During this reporting period, the Workforce and Higher Access to Markets (WHAM) Activity continued supporting the implementation of 13 active grants, six of which were signed during this reporting period as described below. To date, grant beneficiaries have created 233 new jobs, achieved expected results, and brought the total number of new jobs created to date to 856. 1 The 3.2 percent average GDP growth includes 2015 actuals, 2016 actuals, and 2017 estimates, and 2018 forecasts. Source: World Bank’s June 2018 Global Economic Prospects report. 1 | WHAM QUARTERLY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REPORT, JANUARY 1– MARCH 31, 2019, FISCAL YEAR 2019 USAID.GOV We have signed six new grant agreements with small and medium enterprises that submitted grant applications in response to Request for Applications (RFA) 2, RFA 3, RFA 4, and RFA 5. These public calls were published concurrently in the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year. The total value of grants awarded to these SMEs is 109,500 USD. The public call for RFA WHAM-AID-168-LA-17-006 Access to markets to prepare and participate in fairs and trade shows closed on January 30, 2019. WHAM received 35 concept notes, of which nine were asked to submit full grant applications. Upon a final evaluation of these applications, the WHAM selection committee approved six and submitted them for USAID approval; they were under consideration at the end of the reporting period. On March 13, 2019 we published another public call: WHAM-AID-168-LA-17-007 New and innovative product development. This call is opened until April 17, 2019, with a total potential funding pool equaling 300,000 USD. WHAM also fielded three international expert volunteers: Mr. Wael Gamaleldin, a textile sector expert; Daniel Weerbrouck, a furniture and markets expert; and, Željko Malečić, an automotive and metal expert. These volunteer experts provided new perspectives for WHAM beneficiaries and partners to increase their marketability and production capacity, as well as new linkages to potential EU and UK clients. The WHAM team concluded the reporting period closing three grant agreements: Chamber of Commerce RS; PREDA; and, Chamber of Commerce Una Sana Canton. ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION A. GRANTS The WHAM Activity provided continual support to all active grant awards this reporting period. The active grants are listed below: 1. WHAM–S–6–5–G-002: Foreign Trade Chamber of Commerce of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed March 27, 2018 and ending June 30, 2019; 2. WHAM–S–2–6–G-003: Chamber of Economy of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed March 27, 2018 and ending March 30, 2020; 3. WHAM–N–3–1–G004: Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska, signed April 11, 2018 and in the process of closing at the time of this report; 4. WHAM–N–8–3–G005: Agency for Economic Development of City Prijedor PREDA – PD, signed April 11, 2018 and in the process of closing at the time of this report; 5. WHAM–N–4–2–G006: Chamber of Commerce of Una Sana Canton, signed April 11, 2018 and in the process of closing at the time of this report; 6. WHAM-S-18-7-G007: Regional Development Agency Central Bosnia (REZ), signed October 11, 2018 and ending September 30, 2019; 7. WHAM-S-42-14-G008: SARAJ-KOMERC, signed February 15, 2019 and ending April 15, 2019; USAID.GOV WHAM QUARTERLY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REPORT, JANUARY 1– MARCH 31, 2019, FISCAL YEAR 2019 | 2 8. WHAM-S-105-18-G009: ATT, signed February 15, 2019 and ending August 14, 2019; 9. WHAM-S-100-30-G010: SINKRO, signed February 15, 2019 and ending August 14, 2019; 10. WHAM-S-24-35-G011: STEP dd, signed March 8, 2019 and ending September 7, 2019; 11. WHAM-S-78-38-G012: MIVIKO, signed March 6, 2019 and ending March 5, 2020; and, 12. WHAM-S-80-39-G013: TEM MANDEKS, signed March 6, 2019 and ending July 5, 2019. The grant agreement with Hastor Foundation closed on February 14, 2019, and all the results were reported in the previous quarterly report. 1. FOREIGN TRADE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FTC) GRANT AGREEMENT The WHAM Activity and FTC signed a grant agreement entitled “EXCERT: Market Access and Certification Support of Metal and Wood Companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Worth a total of BAM, or approximately USD, this grant aids local wood and metal processing enterprises in the following three ways: Supported/co-financed the participation of seven local metal sector companies at the renowned Messe Fair in Hannover, Germany, in April 2018; Supported/co-financed the participation of eight wood processing companies from BiH at the Internationale Möbelmesse (IMM) Fair in Cologne, Germany, in January 2019; and, Assisting/supporting the certification of 10 local metal sector companies with the latest internationally accepted standards and requirements. Image 1: BIH joint stand at IMM 2019 Furniture Fair, Cologne (Germany) January 14, 2019. Between January 14 and 19, representatives and beneficiaries of the FTC grant program attended the EU’s largest furniture and interior design tradeshow, the Internationale Möbelmesse (IMM) Fair in Cologne, Germany. With WHAM grant support, FTC organized the participation of these eight companies from BIH, which include the following: BOKSIT a.d. Milići, BOSNIAN BEECH BOARD d.o.o. Visoko, DOMUS ARREDI d.o.o. Zenica, FEF Export Import d.o.o. Sarajevo, H.M.M. d.o.o. Gradačac, LIGNACON d.o.o. Teslić, MALAK GROUP d.o.o. JANJ Donji Vakuf and SENEX d.o.o.