Interview Yannick d'Haene

What are some of the highlights of ADECRI’s work?

Let me tell you about two of them. First our twinning projects. The aim is to bring our expertise to the new EU member states. The Commission has extended this initiative to the Balkan and Mediterranean countries through the CARDS and MEDA programmes. In concrete terms it means sending experts to the twinned countries on assignments involving social welfare issues. ADECRI’s first initiative of this kind was in 2000 in Bulgaria, with a project to strengthen the administrative capacity of the country’s national health insurance fund. This was followed by a series of twinning projects in Romania: a first project between 2001 and 2002 dealing with family benefits, two projects in 2003 and 2005 addressing social security for migrant workers and child protection, and a fourth project scheduled for completion in 2007 for the creation of a labour and social security inspectorate. Other twinning operations include a project carried out in late 2005/early 2006 concerning a job seekers’ occupational integration scheme in the Czech Republic and conducted in partnership with our German counterparts, and an upcoming project in Poland addressing transparent decision-making in drug reimbursement systems.
There are also our activities in Africa, which began in 2001. Since then we have headed a World Bank project in Cameroon as well as projects in Mali and the Ivory Coast on the creation of a compulsory health insurance scheme and the development of an information system master plan. We are also running a project in Morocco involving the creation of RAMED, a medical assistance scheme for the poor.

Can you identify any key trends in cooperation in the area of social protection?

Yes, there are definite trends in this area. One of them – which reflects the strategies implemented by the major international organisations – is the broadening of the sphere of action to areas other than social security. In the nineteen nineties, with the issue of demographic decline, the focus was very much on pension systems. Today more cross-cutting issues are emerging such as health and social exclusion - themes also addressed by the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Let me give some examples of these broader initiatives. In Russia for instance we’re working on occupational integration schemes for disabled people – an issue with both an employment and social welfare dimension. Another example is the reform of the child protection policy in Romania.

What are your expectations of GIP SPSI?

The mandate of the GIP is to coordinate French cooperation initiatives in the area of health and social protection. In particular, it must furnish stakeholders with timely information on international projects and key trends. While continuing to pursue its own operations, ADECRI is seeking to involve the GIP in its intelligence activities with a view to identifying projects financed by the international funding agencies. We are also very keen to see the development of a fundraising programme to ensure that identified projects actually come to fruition.

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