The new Fellowship Programme for Young Government Officials from the Western Balkans is being prepared in line with the new EFB program strategy. The European Fund for the Balkans is designed to develop and support initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy and fostering European integration by enabling inclusive policy making, supporting capacity development and creating a platform for exchange and co-operation in the Western Balkans.
By combining capacity building focused on the Western Balkans' social capacity in the EU integration process and developing a culture of regional cooperation, the EFB is designing changes in the Fellowship Programme that will contribute to democratic development of the Western Balkan countries on their way to joining the European Union. With the introduction of innovative ideas and changes in the programme design and implementation, we will focus specifically on strengthening democratic institutions with emphases on the WB social capacity in the EU integration process.
Administrative capacities make up a key part of the capability to assume both the obligations of the EU accession process and the obligations of membership later on. A core part of this administrative capacity is made up of the human capacity - individuals themselves. We focused for the previous seven years on developing effective and efficient public officials, which resulted in more than 130 skilled and trained public officials, capable of performing all of the complex tasks involved in the EU integration process, including the transposition of EU acquis into national legislation, coordination of sectorial policies, management of EU pre-accession assistance, etc.
Wishing to bring more individuals and institutions to this group and creating a regional network dedicated to effective and efficient public administration, we will continue with the implementation of the Fellowship Programme with substantial changes introduced to strengthen the desired impact. In line with this decision, we are inviting all interested applicants to follow our website and read about the latest changes and the final announcement of the new call for applications.
