Regional Cooperation Council

Expert Pool

The Expert Pool represents the core element of the RCC Secretariat. It designs and implements RCC programmes and projects in five priority areas:

Economic and social development
Infrastructure and energy
Justice and home affairs
Security cooperation
Building human capital and parliamentary cooperation

Jelica Minić is Head of the RCC Expert Pool and Deputy RCC Secretary General. Each priority area is structured as a Unit, headed by a Senior Expert.

The Head of Expert Pool/Deputy RCC Secretary General coordinates activities of the RCC experts and shares some duties with the Secretary General regarding participation at meetings and conferences on behalf of the Secretary General, chairing the meetings organized by the RCC Secretariat, and communicating with partners and donors.

The Head of Expert Pool/Deputy RCC Secretary General, in close cooperation with RCC experts, develops procedures and techniques for structuring activities in RCC priority areas and standardizing the Expert Pool output.

The Expert Pool has a leading role in implementing the RCC Strategy and Work Programme 2011-2013, the main operational document guiding the work of the organization.

The organization has also contributed to the programming cycle of the Multi-Annual Multi-Beneficiary Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Programme 2011-2013.

The RCC Secretariat thus provided an insight into regional agenda for the next three years, both from the perspective of beneficiaries and the main donors.

The Expert Pool promotes regional project ideas for the EU’s Multi-Beneficiary Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (MB IPA) and for other donors, and develops project proposals with partner organizations. The experts represent the RCC Secretariat at the MB IPA regional coordination meetings, strategic working groups (on statistics; justice, freedom and security; public administration reform; cultural heritage and history; human rights, minorities and vulnerable groups; infrastructure; environment and disaster risk reduction; and private sector development and investment climate), or meetings of the International Financial Institutions Advisory Group (IFI AG) and Western Balkan Investment Framework (WBIF). They also take part at different international fora, informing of RCC Secretariat’s activities, initiatives and projects.

The RCC Secretariat’s Expert Pool provides inputs to the process of networking among RCC participants from South East Europe (SEE) and the RCC Secretariat with participation of the European Commission and relevant IFIs. In this framework, the Expert Pool prepared a detailed concept paper and overview of regional priorities, based on the input received from the RCC participants from SEE. The mapping of national priorities regarding regional cooperation in SEE served as a basis for developing several regional projects and initiatives supported by RCC participants.

The Expert Pool keeps regular contact with representatives of different national, regional and international organizations, foundations and networks interested to develop or strengthen cooperation with the RCC. Special attention is given to regional initiatives and taskforces (RI&TFs), which have been mapped, while their activities are being coordinated and streamlined by the RCC Secretariat. Through specific RCC Secretariat’s activities, including donor conference for regional projects, better access to information and enhanced cooperation with donor community have been facilitated.

The RCC experts actively implement the RCC Secretariat’s communication strategy. They deliver lectures on regional cooperation and RCC at different courses of postgraduate studies, as well as briefings for journalists from the region, young politicians, and other interested groups.

Together with the RCC Front Office, the Expert Pool conducts RCC outreach activities across the RCC area, to government officials, international organizations, business community, civil society, media and other stakeholders.