Young Civil Servants Scholarship Scheme

Overall Objective

The overall objective of the project is:

• To support the civil service reform through the implementation of a Young Professional Scheme contributing to the building of a professional, independent and merit-based system of recruitment and training, in line with European standards
• To enhance the attractiveness of the civil service for young professionals and contribute to establish a nucleus of young professional civil servants with skills and abilities to carry forward the public administration reform and the EU integration process

Activities

• Inception phase: Defining the expected profile of the target group, the competency required and the selection criteria for the young civil servants, including the language competencies
• Advertising the call for applications
• Conception of the training programme and development of the training materials
• Selection of the candidates by the Department of Public Administration, the Albanian School of Public Administration (ASPA) and École Nationale d’Administration
• Implementation of the pilot training programme
• Final exam (preparing and presenting the individual report) at ASPA and closing of the pilot programme
• Design with the Albanian authorities of a sustainable EU Scholarship Programme for young civil servants
• Identification of potential schools, institutes of public administration and similar partners in Europe available to offer practical training and internships for Albanian scholars (starting from September 2018)
• Drafting of a public policy paper and the related institutional package needed to implement the programme on the long term

Expected Results

• 15 young civil servants from the Albanian administration selected through a highly competitive, transparent and merit based selection procedure
• 4,5 months of tailor-made training programme delivered for the 15 young civil servants in Tirana, Paris, Strasbourg, Luxemburg and Brussels
• Workshop with 6 Schools of Public Administration from the EU Member States organised with the aim to present the programme and establish the basis for partnerships
• A policy paper presenting the design for the future rounds of the scholarship programme developed, consulted and agreed with the stakeholders
• The amendments to the secondary legislation on civil service, aiming to facilitate the implementation of the retention policy for the graduates of the scholarship programme developed
• The practical guidelines for the implementation of the future rounds of the scholarship scheme prepared
• 2 visibility events organised for the graduates of the programme, with extensive media coverage