Linpico News and Job Opportunities

LINPICO has been implementing the EU-Ethiopia Technical Cooperation project since 2012. The project aims to strengthen aid cooperation mechanisms in order to enhance the coordination of EU external assistance, including by supporting preparation of projects, joint annual reports, EU+ cooperation, Aid effectiveness and Monitoring including JROM.

Besides all treaties, agreements and procedures the main thing that counts in the collaboration of the European Delegation (EUD) and the National Authorisation Office (NAO) are “people”.  The better they know each other the better the results of collaboration. This was the idea behind the first ever team-building event of the EUD and NAO at beginning of June in Addis Ababa.

Forty-two members of the two organisations met to discuss their daily work, collaboration and restraints. The team-building event was joined by the new Head of the European Union Delegation to Ethiopia, Ambassador Chantal Hebberecht and Ato (Mr) Belachew Beyene, Deputy National Authorizing Officer. Mixed working groups with members of the two organisations discussed challenges and opportunities of their daily work in the fields of rules and procedures, communication, issue of trust, triangle of decision taking (NAO, EUD, line ministries) and motivation. After a long working day the participants had smiles on their faces, all of them appreciated the chance to get in touch with their counterparts and to know each other better.

For more information, please contact Laury Incorvaia: [email protected]

Since November 2011, Linpico has been implementing a contract to strengthen and support public procurement services in Afghanistan. The service contract between Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services and Linpico is financed by the World Bank under the Public Financial Management Reform Project.

Since the commencement of the Linpico contract until the end of May 2014, a total of 301 contracts (120 Goods, 102 Works, 32 Non-consultancy Services and 47 Consultancy Services) with a total value of USD 1,452,619,838 have been awarded. Of particular significance is a contract amounting to USD 427,335,806 which has been awarded to three National firms for the supply of bulk fuel to the Ministry of Interior. This is the single largest value contract ever finalized by ARDS and is a record.The contract is funded by ISAF.

For more information on this contract please contact our Managing Director Ivan Linhart: ilinhart@linpico.com

Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA-N) together with the Ministry of Education has just launched a modern Management Information System (MIS) for Learning Support Materials (LSM) in Windhoek.

In September 2012, Linpico was awarded the contract by the Millenium Challenge Account in Namibia as part of the technical support provided by MCA-N (through the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation – MCC) to Namibia, amounting to N$ 12 million. This contract aimed to assist the Ministry of Education (MoE) in implementing its 2008 textbook policy.

MCA-N implements development activities in the country’s education, agriculture and tourism sectors financed by the United States Government through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) worth US$ 304.5 million (N$ 3 billion) with the aim of reducing poverty through economic growth. Forty-six percent of this amount (US$ 141.4 million) is budgeted for the Namibian education sector.

Education Minister David Namwandi thanked MCA-N for its continued support in improving the country’s education system: “Goodbye to dusty archives! Ciao to the days of learners without textbook! Cheerio to an inefficient system and farewell to delays in the supply of textbooks.”

As of 28^th March, the Minister of Education, Dr Namwandi, has officially launched the Learning Support Material Management Information System (LSM MIS), a new system which will enable the Ministry to distribute learning materials to all regions, circuits and schools in Namibia more efficiently. Linpico has been providing long and short term expertise for this Millennium Challenge Corporation project to develop the Supply Chain Management Unit in a bid to improve the procurement of textbooks for the Ministry of Education and in order to integrate the LSM MIS with Data in the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

MCA-N has procured 1.7 million textbooks to the value of N$ 120 million for grade 5-12 learners in all regions of Namibia. The new system provides for efficient and effective control, maintenance and procurement of school textbooks as well as other learning materials. It is estimated that the process of ordering textbooks will be shortened from five months to less than one month.

Originally introduced in 2013, the LSM has already facilitated the effective ordering and delivery of over 1 million textbooks, with the system only taking weeks to process orders compared to six months using previous systems. Six regional education directors have already been trained in supply chain management by Linpico’s experts, with training in the remaining regions expected to be completed over the course of the month.

The introduction of the LSM MIS is in line with the Ministry’s mission to provide quality and accessible education for all in Namibia, and in particular its commitment to achieve a 1:1 textbook and learner ratio.

MCA-N CEO Penny Akwenye highlighted that, “MCA Namibia was convinced that the textbooks activity, once effectively implemented, will contribute significantly to learner performance outcomes.” – 

Following the official launch, Linpico has been offered a project extension in order to continue building the Supply Chain Management Unit, by strengthening the understanding of the LSM supply chain and in the operation of the LSM MIS through training in management in Windhoek and in the regions.

Linpico’s key consultants on this project are Mr. Nick Read and Mr. Richard Fernley. For more information on this project please contact Mr. Laury Incorvaia : [email protected] 

Education Minister David Namwandi, with MCA Namibia and Linpico’s team:

Linpico continues to develop its expertise in the field of Public Finance Management with a particular focus on PFM Education. In South Africa we have recently developed a PFM Education, Training and Development delivery model with funding from the European Union and in March we started performance of a World Bank financed contract in Mauritania to support and provide training to staff in the Ministry of Finance for the implementation of the Government’s Public Finance Management Reform Action Plan. 

Linpico has recently successfully completed a number of assignments in the Indian Ocean. These include assisting the Government of Seychelles with the implementation of an important Public Administration Reform Programme (WB funded) and the completion of an 18-month training programme in Comoros on budget preparation, control in budget execution, external scrutiny and audit of public finances.

Coordinateur du PRCI (M Abal Chacourou) et Chef de mission (Mario Dehove, expert associés LINPICO), avec des Juges de la Cour Suprême des Comores

Earlier this year we also completed the PEFA assessment in Comoros and assisted the African Development Bank with producing their Flagship report on regional integration in the Indian Ocean and programming assistance in the areas of energy, infrastructure, private sector development, tourism, environment and social sectors.

Al-Watwan newspaper – Friday 21 June 2013, Comores

Linpico is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a new EuropeAid-funded contract to provide technical assistance to build the capacities of the Ministry of International Cooperation in the field of planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Egypt.

The overall objective of the project will be to develop and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning, managing, monitoring and evaluating functions of the Ministry of International Cooperation, in order to optimise the allocation of Official Development Assistance to Egypt in line with current aid effectiveness principles. Through the provision of better aid management, the project thus aims to contribute to the socio-economic welfare of the country.

The project, which commences in the middle of November, will last for the duration of two years. It will involve a team of four experts in the field, as well as in-house Linpico staff, who will be working closely with the Ministry of International Cooperation in Egypt in order to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the contract.

For further information on the project, please contact Ioannis Malisiovas: [email protected]