Division 2 Selection of implementing agency and coordination with other relevant funding initiatives

SEESAC is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC; successor to the Stability Pact for South East Europe) and as such is the focal point for SALW-related activities in South East Europe. As the executive arm of the South East Europe Regional Implementation Plan on Combating the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), SEESAC has been working for over 11 years with national stakeholders in South East Europe on implementing a holistic approach to SALW control through the execution of a wide spectrum of activities including: awareness raising and SALW collection campaigns, stockpile management, surplus reduction, improved marking and tracing capabilities, as well as improved arms exports control. In this way, SEESAC has acquired a unique capacity and experience implementing multi-stakeholder regional interventions against the shared political and economic background of the countries in the region, ensuring national and regional ownership and long-term sustainability of its actions and establishing itself as the primary regional authority in the SALW control field.

SEESAC has open bilateral and multilateral channels of communication with all relevant actors and organisations. SEESAC is also the Secretariat of the South East Europe Regional Steering Group for Small Arms and Light Weapons (RSG). In addition, SEESAC is a member and former Chair of the Steering Committee of the Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction (RASR) Initiative. SEESAC is regularly invited to take part in all relevant regional fora such as the EU – Western Balkans annual meetings of ministers of justice and home affairs; the NATO Structural Information Exchange Process on SALW; the South-East Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) Process. It has a wide network of formal and informal partnerships with organisations such as RACVIAC (Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre) – Centre for Security Cooperation, the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC). Regular coordination meetings with other UN agencies such as UNODC and UNODA take place through UN Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) as well as other mechanisms. SEESAC thus developed into a regional hub for a wide spectrum of security sector reform-related issues, with a particular focus on SALW control and stockpile management. Based in Belgrade, SEESAC currently operates throughout South East Europe, with activities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Regional ownership is ensured through the RCC as well as the Regional Steering Group on SALW, where representatives of all states in SEE provide the strategic guidance, initiatives and requests for SEESAC activities.

Tackling shared problems through regional initiatives has proven to be beneficial in South East Europe not only because of the crucial information sharing and promotion of healthy regional competition which it sparks, but also because it helps achieve consistent and easily measurable results through holistic implementation. Participation by SEESAC in all relevant regional processes and initiatives (such as SEDM, RASR and RACVIAC) provides timely and candid information exchange, strong situational awareness and the foresight necessary to ensure implementation not prone to overlap, and in line with the current needs of the Governments and the regions, as well as developing trends.

SEESAC grounds all of its activities on collected baseline data, secures endorsement and political support from national stakeholders as a precondition for action. It implemented its previous EU-funded projects with a very high delivery rate of the envisaged activities, delivering sustainable project results by developing and fostering national ownership of its projects and activities, promoting regional coordination, experience and best practices sharing as well as regional research. Its SALW expertise and in-depth knowledge of regional affairs and relevant stakeholders makes them the most suitable implementing partner in this particular action.

The project also complements a parallel SEESAC initiative on arms transfers control which seeks to increase the capacity to control the arms trade through improved transparency and regional cooperation^f1. Moreover, with specific regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the project is complementary to two other projects, in particular:

• the EXPLODE project, funded by the EU's Instrument for Stability short-term component and implemented by the UNDP Office in Sarajevo in partnership with the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, to enhance the safety of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina by decreasing unstable ammunition stockpiles and enhancing storage safety,

• the SECUP Bosnia and Herzegovina project for security upgrades of ammunition and weapons storage sites, which is implemented jointly by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Defence, with EUFOR providing expert technical advice and monitoring of safety and security aspects of the project implementation, SEESAC will regularly liaise with EUFOR Althea, the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UNDP Office in Sarajevo to ensure continuous coordination and complementarity with those projects as well as with the on-going efforts of the international community to address the issue of surplus stocks of conventional ammunition held by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Defence and in view of any possible future plans for a campaign to collect illegal conventional weapons in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With regard to other countries covered by the project, SEESAC will work in coordination with the following international assistance efforts:

• In Montenegro, the MONDEM project, managed by the United Nations Development Programme in partnership with the OSCE is designed to work on the reduction of counter-proliferation risks through the development of safe and secure conventional ammunition storage infrastructure and management systems, reduction of explosive risk to communities by the environmentally- benign demilitarisation, destruction of toxic hazardous waste (liquid rocket propellant) and support to defence reform by the destruction of a limited quantity of heavy weapons systems designated by the Ministry of Defence of Montenegro.

• In Kosovo^f2, the KOSSAC Project, designed initially to reduce armed violence in Kosovo and increase community safety, KOSSAC has, throughout the years, evolved into a comprehensive armed-violence prevention project with a strong focus on security sector reform and capacity development.

• In Serbia, the CASM project, funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is designed to enhancing security and safety of pre-defined conventional ammunition storage locations and the disposal of reported surplus ammunition.

SEESAC also regularly liaises with OSCE, NATO and Norwegian Peoples Aid as well as with other relevant actors in order to secure complementarities of action, timelines of intervention and cost effectiveness in the use of resources.