Project Management and Administration

Project management at strategic level is mainly carried out and safeguarded by a Steering group (SG) with representatives from all the 10 participating metropolitan areas. Every metropolitan city has a representative in a management position participating in the SG which is chaired by the project leader, WISTA-MG. The SG has meetings twice a year. Its main task is to monitor and ensure that the activities and milestones of different work packages are fulfilled, relevant partnership contracts are made between the partners and the budget is used in an appropriate way. A project management team (PMT) will be set up and chaired by the project co-ordinator, WISTA-MG. The WP leaders from Riga City, KISTA (Stockholm), Technopol (Tallinn), Warsaw University, Culminatum (Helsinki) and Business Link (Copenhagen) will have members in this team. Additionally it will be completed by 1 partner per other region: Vilnius, Oslo, St. Petersburg for a continuous involvement of all capital regions.

The PMT is responsible for the project's operational management at the working level. This team is also responsible for producing detailed project plans of the whole project and of the different WPs and for co-ordinating of the activities between the WPs. The project co-ordinator is responsible for reporting of the progress, outputs and results of the project to the Steering group and to the Interreg JTS. The WP leaders report to the project coordinator. Regular contacts between the team members are ensured by coordination meetings every [SIXTH MONTH] face-to-face and meanwhile by tele-working (tele-meetings, emails). Regular contacts among every project partner are ensured by an internal project server and project web pages. Enews are published quarterly. The project coordinator delivers relevant reporting information and reporting instructions for partners and organizes the external evaluation.

The project co-ordinator, WISTA-MG will ensure that a person with relevant working experience in international development projects will carry out the administrative management of the project. A financial manager is responsible for the fiscal management of the project under the leadership of the project co-ordinator. The partner budgets are controlled and followed up in the meetings of the PMT as well as in the meetings of the SG. The project co-ordinator will prepare the project and financial reports and documents of the whole project based on the reports of WP leaders and partners to the Interreg JTS. Every partner follows the same accounting system at the general level having an item of expenditure for the project costs. Certified auditors from participating countries will be used for securing the correct use of funding. The independent and certified auditor selected by the project coordinator has already audited Interreg IIIC project - as the lead partner auditor.

Starting phase of the operation:
Project Application changes if necessary (budget and/or content related regulations).
Contract between Interreg JTS and project coordinator will be signed. Co-operation Agreements between project co-ordinator and project partners will be signed. Kick-Off meeting will be held with participation of all project partners.