Early Warning System

Countries

Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kosovo
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Serbia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Specific Location

Western Balkans

Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Borrower

Regional

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Agriculture and Forestry
Technical Cooperation

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Grant

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

Not Disclosed

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Aug 7, 2025

Disclosed by Bank May 9, 2025

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the EBRD intends to pilot a digital product to further integrate small producers into value chains, enhancing their ability to meet food safety and quality standards through user-friendly, real-time digital solutions. This includes adapting digital solutions to facilitate the adoption of good agricultural practices, food safety and quality standards, including Geographical Indication labels ("GI"), making compliance more accessible and manageable. These digital solutions will be tailored to improve efficiency, simplify adherence and ensure compliance with food safety standards, therefore improving overall product and process quality. By making these standards more accessible, the Project aims to facilitate their implementation by producers. Recognizing the challenges small producers and associations may face in managing control systems, the introduction of these user-friendly, real-time digital solutions, will help them efficiently meet the required standards, thereby streamlining the entire quality management process, and enhancing their market competitiveness.

The Project will support:i) food producers in the Western Balkans to ensure quality assurance and implement GI certification processes through digital tools;ii) the development/strengthening of Short Food Supply Chains by enhancing digital market inclusion and aggregation.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Investment amount not available at the time of disclosure.

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html