CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS 4 ACTIVITY OVERVIEW 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION 7 A. GRANTS 7 1. CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (COE FBIH) 9 2. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CENTRAL BIH (REZ) 10 3. STEP D.D. 11 4. INTERA TECHNOLOGY PARK (INTERA) 11 5. MBT BH 11 6. CHAMBER OF ECONOMY OF FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (COE FBIH) 12 7. NOVA AMBIENTA 12 8. SENEX D.O.O. 12 9. FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO 12 10. TERMO KLIMA 13 11. AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (AMCHAM) 14 12. MANDEKS MOLDING 14 13. NOVOFORM 14 14. DEDINA 14 15. VIGMELT 15 16. STANDARD FURNITURE FACTORY 15 17. BONTEX 15 18. BOKSIT 16 19. DRVOPRODEKS 17 20. MANDEKS MOLDING 17 21. FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING BANJA LUKA 17 22. SIK 18 23. PMP JELŠINGRAD 18 24. KOVAN 19 25. DIZART 19 26. KIS PRODUKT 19 27. CROMEX 19 28. DRVNA GALANTERIJA MILINKOVIĆ 20 29. EDENGARDEN 20 30. FORMINO 21 31. JODDY DREAMS 21 32. TIKT MANUFAKTURA 21 33. TRI BEST 22 34. DRVOMONT 22 35. BIT ALLIANCE 23 B. VOLUNTEER ASSIGNMENTS 23 C. ACTIVITY RESULTS 23 D. GRANT APPLICATIONS 28 KEY ACTIVITIES 28 ORGANIZE REGULAR VISITS TO EXISTING GRANTEES TO MONITOR ACTIVITIES AND COLLECT DOCUMENTS AND DATA 28 EFFECTS OF COVID 19 ON WHAM TEAM 28 PROMOTE WHAM ACTIVITY TO SOCIAL MEDIA 28 FINANCES 29 CHALLENGES, LESSONS LEARNED, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 29 COVID 19 PANDEMIC 30 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW CHECKLIST 30 ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE NEXT REPORTING PERIOD 30 PROMOTE AND EVALUATE APPLICATIONS FOR RFA 009 30 NEGOTIATE AND SIGN AGREEMENTS 31 CLOSE THE MAJORITY OF GRANTS BY JUNE 30 31 ANNEX A: LOCATION OF COMPANIES SUPPORTED BY WHAM 32 ANNEX B: LIST OF COMPANIES SUPPORTED BY WHAM 33 LIST OF ACRONYMS B2B Business-to-Business BAM Bosnia Convertible Mark BAS Institute for Standardization of Bosnia and Herzegovina BBB Bosnian Beech Board doo Visoko BiH Bosnia and Herzegovina CAD Computer-aided Design CAM Computer-aided Manufacturing CNC Computer Numerical Controlling CoC RS Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska CoE FBiH Chamber of Economy of Federation of BIH EMC Electromagnetic compatibility ERC Environmental Review Checklist 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) GACS Global Automotive Components and Suppliers GDP Gross Domestic Product GMC Global Metal Construction ICT Information and Communications Technology IESC International Executive Service Corps IMM Internationale Möbelmesse Messe IWE International welding engineer IWT International welding technologist ISO International Organization for Standardization IZB International Suppliers Fair LOP Life of Project NDT Non destruction training PKUSK Chamber of Commerce of Una Sana Canton PREDA Prijedor Regional Economic Development Agency Q1/2/3/4 Quarter One/Two/Three/Four REZ Regional Development Agency of Central BiH RFA Request for Application RS Republic of Srpska MOW Messe für Mobel-Business SME Small to Medium-Size Enterprise UK United Kingdom 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 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)1. 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, four main sectors: wood processing, metal processing, textile/apparel, and information and communications technology (ICT). 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 United States Agency for International Development (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 was originally from June 9, 2017 to June 8, 2020. On October 24, 2019, USAID approved a two-year extension to the Cooperative Agreement, the end date of the Activity is now June 8, 2022. In the extension period, the WHAM Activity included additional two intervention areas: Intervention 1: Workforce Training Grants. The workforce grants will serve immediate, specific training needs with capacity building packages that are completed in three to six months time. 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. Intervention 2: Educational Centers of Excellence Grants. The excellence grants will help develop and showcase cutting edge workforce training and re-training learning centers in a targeted sector. 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 of January 1 to March 31, 2020. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During this quarter, WHAM negotiated and signed three grant agreements. The Activity also achieved most of the results from the activity indicators, notably including number of new jobs created, this quarter reaching 1,571 new full-time jobs and surpassing the Year 3 target of 1,545 jobs. Considering that WHAM continues to have a number of active grants, results are expected to be higher by the time all active grants are completed. Several grantees completed all activities and were successfully closed. Grantees such as Drvoprodex and Boksit participated in trade fairs and presented their newly developed products. Several others received certifications, such as ISO 9001, EN ISO 3834 and EN 1090 that will allow them to become A-rate suppliers or gain new customers. The majority of them trained new workforce from basic skills in textile industry to advanced international welding engineer certifications in metal. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and government rules on social distancing and international travel restrictions created challenges and some delays for the majority of current WHAM grantees. Planned trainings for the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Sarajevo, MBT from Tuzla, and INTERA from Mostar, among others, all had to be stopped. Certifications and final certification audits that companies planned to finish by March, could not be completed due to travel restrictions, so companies such as TRI Best and Novoform have had to wait. Furthermore, grantees that were making new products such as Kovan and Edengarden could not import parts from Italian suppliers and complete their products on time. Lastly, grantees that were planning closing ceremonies to mark the successful implementation of their grant activities had to cancel previously planned events. As a result, WHAM approved 21 active grant extension requests in order to complete grants activities. Similarly, volunteer activities had to be postponed and/or canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, four events for which eight expert volunteers were supposed to provide their technical expertise were cancelled by the organizers. Starting March 16, the WHAM team in Sarajevo had to move to remote work and stopped all planned travel and in-person site visits. During this reporting period, the Activity has disbursed around for grant activities. Out of the original grant funds WHAM has disbursed as of March 31, 2020. USAID.GOV WHAM QUARTERLY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REPORT, JAN 1 – MAR 31, 2020 | 6 This grantee completed all planned activities, including taking companies to the IZB fair, establishing an office in Wolfsburg as well as workforce expansion. In the end, beneficiary companies hired 84 new workers during the time this grant was active. The FBIH Chamber spent a total of . A closing ceremony was originally planned for March 24 prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 however, due to the pandemic and consequent rules on social distancing the event was canceled. WHAM finalized all payments and the grant is closed as of March 28, 2020. 2. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CENTRAL BIH (REZ) The Regional Development Agency (REZ) operates in the Central BiH Region and was established in 2004 through a partnership between governmental and non-governmental institutions. Its ultimate goal is the transformation of the Central BiH Region into a modern European Region. On October 15, 2019 WHAM signed a grant agreement with REZ to support the “Raise Up the Standards Fund.” The “Raise Up the Standards Fund” grant agreement supports SMEs in central BiH in obtaining the necessary certifications for products and processes to verify they are in-line with EU technical regulations and standards.