The project is being carried out by OPERA Srl, in consortium with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia – Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate (MoA-VFSD).

The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia (MoA)  performs administrative and other tasks in the field of agriculture, fisheries, forestry, rural development, management and disposal of state-owned agricultural land, agricultural policy, market and structural support in agriculture, food and veterinary medicine, namely: crop production and agroecology, protection of plant varieties and recognition of agricultural plant varieties, plant health, marketing and application of plant protection products, farmed animals breeding. The Ministry is responsible for crisis preparedness, response planning and crisis management in the field of food and feed safety, animal health and plant health, with the Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate (VFSD) being the Central Competent Authority for animal health, animal welfare, veterinary public health and food safety.

Link to website of MoA-VFSD

The main goal of the training programme is to prepare, hold and evaluate inter-sectorial table top simulation exercises on outbreak coordination and crisis response involving agri-food chain authorities, and where needed public health authorities, as well as crisis coordinators. These crisis simulation exercises are expected to contribute to:

  • improving preparedness and response planning for crisis situations through testing procedures in place at national (contingency plans) and EU level (e.g. the crisis general plan);
  • ensuring coherence, interoperability and coordination between the local, national and EU level;
  • ensuring interaction between Member States and with international partners concerned by using the appropriate channels;
  • ensuring coordination between the competent authority and other stakeholders at national level;
  • guaranteeing coordination of risk communication at local, national and EU level;
  • improving preparedness to communication and decision-making challenges in crisis situations, such as e.g. deciding when to communicate, how to handle uncertainty when communicating and how to balance scientific assessments vs political evaluation, trade, economic impact, consumer confidence and public health.

The programme will be implemented in 2 phases, each of 6 training sessions*, addressed to participants from Competent Authorities from EU Member States, of which:

  • 2 training sessions in the field of food and feed safety;
  • 2 training sessions in the field of animal health;
  • 2 training sessions in the field of plant health.

*Number of sessions may be modified following outbreak of COVID-19 pandemics.

Table top simulation exercise has proven to be a useful method to test preparedness plans, procedures, response capacity and communication lines in place. The players involved are provided with an excellent opportunity to interact with and understand the roles and responsibilities of the other sectors/agencies taking part and to find operational ways for sharing sensitive information between Member States and organisations involved.
Such exercises engage players imaginatively while generating realistic scenarios. Participants will use realistic key tools for crisis managers (i.e. existing rapid alert systems, support mechanisms like EUVET) and get to know key procedures along with the people with whom they may be working in a crisis. The rationale is that participants who have exercised together and know each other, the existing information systems and communication tools available to them (also for sensitive information) will provide a much faster and more effective response than those who face the problem for the first time when an emergency/crisis occurs and are yet to discover how to manage the situation.

The specific objectives of the simulation exercises are to test the use and usability of the existing systems and communication tools in order to:

  • contribute to the implementation of existing EU legislation related to crisis management in food/feed, animals and plants, especially in the areas of preparedness and response planning, monitoring, surveillance, crisis management, risk and crisis communication and inter-sectoral cooperation;
  • test the standard operating procedures in place, both with Member States and EU agencies, as well as internally in the European Commission;
  • identify the responsibilities and roles of all stakeholders in outbreak management;
  • take into account the transmission of information between involved departments at national, EU and international level;
  • take into account the transmission of information between the European Commission services and Agencies;
  • coordinate necessary risk management measures and response at national and EU level;
  • understand the structures and organisation of the response to emergency events in other Member States;
  • establish and test decision-making processes and responsibilities;
  • establish and test coordinated communication processes to the media (notably social media) and the public;
  • inform and coordinate with international organisations (e.g. in the context of INFOSAN and others depending on the characteristics of the event chosen);
  • understand the use and interactions of mechanisms and structures in place (e.g. RASFF, ADNS, EWRS) and identify possibly other useful tools and options depending on the event chosen;
  • test the transmission and sharing of information between EU Commission services and Agencies, especially the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in particular in relation to their mandates regarding rapid outbreak assessment;
  • test the transmission and sharing of information, and communication processes between EU Commission, Member States and non-EU-countries.

Target participants

The training will be addressed to officials from competent authorities involved in crisis preparedness and management (preferably at central and/or regional level) in the chosen field.

Dissemination

The BTSF programme is based on the “train the trainers” approach, and for this reason dissemination of the received knowledge is fundamental for the trainings to have a greater impact. Participants will be requested to commit themselves to disseminate the information received via different methods, i.e. informing colleagues about the information received at the training, distributing the training materials, preparing informative articles in the professional national or, if possible, in international journals, preparing presentations based on the training materials for the staff of national Competent Authorities or other disseminating methods which could be appropriate to share the information received via the BTSF training. During the course participants will be provided with a training package to be used as supporting dissemination material.

BTSF INTERSECTORAL SIMULATION EXERCISE

PROJECT NO. 2019 96 02:  ORGANISATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INTER-SECTORAL SIMULATION EXERCISES ON CRISIS MANAGEMENT COORDINATION AND RESPONSE IN THE FOOD AND FEED, ANIMAL AND PLANT SECTORS

ONGOING PHASE I – CALENDAR OF TRAINING SESSIONS
SESSION Course DATE LOCATION
1 Animal health From 31/01/2022 to 02/02/2022 Online virtual class (Zoom)
2 Food safety From 15/02/2022 to 17/02/2022 Online virtual class (Zoom)
3 Food safety From 25/04/2022 to 27/04/2022 Online virtual class (Zoom)
4 Animal Health From 09/05/2022 to 11/05/2022 Online virtual class (Zoom)
5 Food safety From 05/10/2022 to 07/10/2022 Brussels, Belgium
6 Plant Health From 11/10/2022 to 13/10/2022 Brussels, Belgium
7  Animal Health From 08/11/2022 t0 11/10/2022 Brussels, Belgium

GENERAL ENQUIRIES
20199602simulationexercise@btsftraining.com