Executive summary of the 7th Interim Progress Report

Objective

During the first three months of the reporting period substantial efforts were devoted to finalize the Regional Work Plans (RWP) and Country Work Plans (CWP) and to confirm the budget elements with DG NEAR. Following this a process of drafting Concept Notes and Terms of Reference started with the aim of having the overall majority of the activities approved by the end of the reporting period. By the end of July, 17 activities had been approved while 8 requests had been submitted pending approval and another 17 are foreseen to be submitted during August and early September for approval. During this process a few of the planned activities were cancelled due to the lack of Partner Country confirmation that the activities were high priority.

Confirmation of the Country Work Plan for Ukraine proved to be a challenge because there was for many months no Country Coordinator to manage the process, but by the end of July everything fell into place. The project had extensive consultations with both the EU Delegation in Kiev and the DG NEAR Support Group for Ukraine in this process.