The current project deals with the organisation and implementation of training activities in non-EU countries in South and Central America and in the Caribbean under the “Better Training for Safer Food” initiative. The purpose of the training programme is to provide these countries with technical training and on-the-spot technical assistance, assisting them to improve and strengthen the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) framework, particularly as it applies to animal health and welfare, thereby to allow better production, processing and trade of safe food and healthy animals. In this way, the project contributes to the achievement of long term EU objectives of reducing and eradicating poverty through sustainable development and the integration of developing countries into the world economy.
The training programme includes six workshops and a series of sustained training and technical assistance missions (STMs), which will be carried out in selected countries within the specified region.
SUSTAINED TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MISSIONS (STMS)
STMs represent an innovative tool, made available under the BTSF initiative, to provide technical assistance that is tailored to the needs of individual Member States.
Within the BTSF World – Lot 5 programme, STMs are aimed at supporting both the competent authorities as well as private stakeholders (such as farmers, producers, etc.) in selected third countries, including at local and national level, in particular with regard to providing hands-on training thereby developing a training pathway, an action plan, manuals and/or other documented control procedures to ensure effective farming/production practices, inspection and verification mechanisms in the fields covered by this programme.
The general objectives of STMs stand as follows:
To provide hands-on training by the expert(s), including laboratory training where appropriate, to both competent authorities as well as private sector through consecutive missions along a learning process;
A training pathway should be established for each third country and sector. Such trainings will consist of mentoring competent authorities/private stakeholders throughout a learning process but also of performing preparatory drafting of manuals to be implemented later at a national and/or regional level;
To support the countries’ competent authorities in the assistance in developing manuals and other documented control procedures to set up effective verification mechanisms for the fields to be covered by the contract.
The organisation of such missions will require the identification of a pool of ‘high level’ experienced experts (with minimum of 5 years of working professional experience in the concerned fields) from which one or more can be assigned to the tasks to be executed in the selected third countries.
The BTSF World – Lot 5 programme will include 10 STMs in 2 different countries during 2013-2015, the first of which is scheduled for June/July 2014 in Paraguay, for a total amount of 85 working days.