INTRODUCTION

As of the Program commencement date, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection did not have sufficient technical facilities and personnel required for effective Program implementation and, consequently, for the operation of the Belarus Program Management Committee. This Project created all necessary conditions for keeping the Committee operating. More specifically, a Committee Secretariat was set up and equipped with necessary office equipment, transportation means, telephone and fax lines, and provided with Internet connection and other facilities to enable it to perform its duties.

The Program Office was created in the premises of the EkologiaInvest Center for International Environmental Projects, Certification and Audit affiliated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus. This organization was designated as the Project executing agency in view of its practical expertise in preparing and implementing over 20 international technical assistance projects (EU TACIS Program, Global Environment Facility and its executing agencies such as the World Bank, UNDP, UNEP, Danish and German governments).

It should be noted that a distinction should be made between the implementation of the Program in the Republic of Belarus, on the one hand, and its implementation in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, on the other hand. To use the Program funding effectively and to make the grant funds liable to tax exemptions (which is not the case now in the Republic of Belarus) the funds were administered through the UN representative office (Belarus) in accordance with the rules, requirements and procedures established by the UNDP. In essence, the Office managed funds of each individual project whereas in Ukraine and the Russian Federation this was the responsibility of a number of organizations – i.e. executors of individual projects – which had only to comply with the IDRC’s requirements.

Naturally, the Office mainly concentrated its efforts on its financial duties. Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to imagine how hard it was to match budgets of IDRC and UNDP projects, which profoundly differ in their content and formulation principles. Despite all these differences it was necessary to take into account requirements of both IDRC and UNDP as well as those established by Belarus legislation. Nonetheless, mainly due to the efforts of the Office personnel all these requirements were complied with and the financial resources were used efficiently. No such work was carried out by the Russian Federation Program Office.

This Report describes the project implementation process from September 2000 to March 2004, namely, purchased equipment, Project personnel and major results.

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