Montenegro Second Institutional Development and Agriculture Strengthening Project

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The development objective of Second Institutional Development and Agricultural Strengthening Project for Montenegro is to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and fisheries in Montenegro through enhanced delivery of government support in alignment with EU accession requirements. This project has four components as follows. 1) The first component, Strengthening Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) agriculture, rural development and fisheries program, aims to (a) increase and diversify income generation opportunities for productive units, contribute to the creation of jobs, as well as improve resilience of productive units for adaptation to climatic pressures, and (b) support Montenegro for meeting Chapter 11 closing benchmarks. It has the following subcomponents: (i) Increasing and diversifying income opportunities through grants for agriculture, rural development and fisheries; and (ii) Strengthening the MARD toward fulfilling EU accession requirements. 2) The second component, Support for the Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Services, aims to develop capacity for food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary services as part of the creation of an integrated food quality system which is consistent with European Union (EU) requirements. It has the following subcomponents: (i) Safe management of animal by-products; (ii) Strengthening the diagnostic capacity of the phytosanitary laboratory; and (iii) Support to inspection services. 3) The third component, Modernization of the Fisheries Sector, aims to finance public sector investment aimed at achieving two objectives: (i) enhancing the productive capacity of the sector with investments in basic infrastructure and equipment that will provide fishermen with regulated safe, and sanitary landing facilities and access to port, and (ii) strengthening the institutional capacity to apply the CFP upon EU accession, as well as substantially strengthen administrative, inspection, and control capacity. It has the following two subcomponents: (i) Development of a network of landing sites (both in ports and other locations) with enhanced access to auxiliary services; and (ii) Capacity Building for the Directorate for Fisheries, and support to Associations of Fishermen. 4) The fourth component, Project Management, aims to cover the costs for project management related to staffing, consultancies, and equipment costs, as well as implementation of the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), monitoring and evaluation of all project activities in line with the Results Framework, adequate fiduciary (procurement and financial management), audits and accountability mechanisms for oversight, including a grievance redress mechanism.