November 2011

For the next three years B,S,S. Economic Consultants and its partner Oxford Policy Management from London will provide operational and conceptual backstopping and advisory services to the Macroeconomic Support Division of the State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO). The framework contract covers a wide range of issues in the public financial management (PFM) domain, with a focus on budget management and fiscal decentralisation. Our engagement will contribute to enhance SECO’s development cooperation efforts by providing support and complementary services to SECO.

October 2011

SDC’s project Alternated Education and Vocational Education Project – Phase VI (CEFA) in Albania aims at contributing to improved social inclusion of the Roma and Egyptian minorities through education, employment, community empowerment and promotion of minority rights. It also supports the implementing agency – Foundation Ndihmë për fëmijët (NPF) – in its development process. B,S,S. Economic Consultants carried out an external review, which included an organisational performance assessment, and formulated recommendations particularly as regards SDC’s future interventions in the domain of social inclusion in Albania.

August 2011

The Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) commissioned an independent review of four components of its Rule of Law Programme, including a trial monitoring project in Armenia and a prosecutorial reform project in Moldova. B,S,S. performed an evaluation of the programme components in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. Furthermore, we developed recommendations on possible improvements and future considerations for ODIHR’s programmatic work on rule of law.

June 2011

B,S,S. Economic Consultants was commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to perform a review of the Joint Programme for Roma and Marginalised Groups Inclusion through Education in Serbia and in Montenegro (2009-2011). The programme (implemented by the Red Cross, Pomoc Deci, and UNICEF) aims at including marginalised children, particularly children of the Roma minority and on children with disabilities, into the mainstream education system though institutional and legislative reform, design and implementation of different educational modules and advocacy. The objectives of the review were to assess the relevance of the programme against national strategic documents and policy priorities; to evaluate the results achieved and the efficiency of the institutional set-up; and to provide recommendations for the future strategic and institutional orientation of the programme.

April 2011

External Evaluation of SDC Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been playing a key role in the field youth employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Youth Employment Project (YEP) is a flagship intervention in this regard. YEP aims at facilitating cooperation between private and public agencies/employment institutes and with the education sector with a view to increase employability of school graduates and long-term unemployed youth. B,S,S. carried out a mid-term evaluation of this three year technical assistance based on the OECD-DAC criteria and supported SDC with recommendations for the design of the follow-up project.

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