Challenges
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The European Union is developing an increasingly close relationship with its neighboring countries, including gradual economic integration and deepening political cooperation. In order to achieve this integration, the European Commission implements numerous technical assistance programs to align the policies, institutional structures and financing mechanisms of third countries with those of the EU. Specifically, through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI), the EU strives to reduce regional disparities within and between countries by providing support for effective and efficient funding of structurally weak regions, including territorial cooperation between border regions.
The primary aim is to support job creation, business competitiveness, economic growth and sustainable development through targeted investments, which are delivered through specific financial instruments such as grant schemes, loan models and budget support.
GFA concept and services
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GFA´s concepts and experts support national, regional and local stakeholders in enhancing their capacity to implement EU best practices and funding models for a better transition to applicable EU cohesion policies. GFA´s concepts and experts support national, regional and local stakeholders in enhancing their capacity to implement EU best practices and funding models for a better transition to applicable EU cohesion policies.
Having the EU as one of our main clients, GFA has implemented numerous EU projects in IPA and ENI countries as well as in Brussels in recent years, and provides a wide professional network related to cohesion policy and structural funds management. GFA employs a number of permanent staff with specific professional experience in INTERREG and cross-border cooperation projects.
We provide solutions to the question of how and to what extent financial resources should be allocated to regions and sectors. To this end, we identify the main reasons for sub-optimal market and investment situations and make sure that these resources are used where they make a significant difference. An important recent concept in this regard is the development of methodologically sound sector strategies that define realistic, quantifiable targets in line with cohesion policy objectives and are properly interlinked so that synergies can be created while conflicting efforts are avoided. The elaboration of sophisticated monitoring and evaluation tools also plays an important role in measuring the impact of investments. These are based on reliable indicators, and provide for optimal data flow between the involved national, regional and local institutions.In grant scheme approaches, GFA supports stakeholders throughout the entire project cycle, ranging from programming and procurement to contract management, beneficiary training, implementation monitoring and final evaluation.
Contact
Cristian Ferreri
PFM Department Director
E-mail: cristian.ferreri[at]gfa-group.de
