Public Administration School for the ethnic minority youth

The Institute for European Policies and Reforms, in partnership with the OSCE Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities and with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is to implement the Public Administration School for the ethnic minority youth from the Republic of Moldova. This effort is designed to strengthen civic engagement and involvement in public life of young people from ethnic minority groups in the country.

According to the provisions set out in the Ljubljana Guidelines on Integration of Diverse Societies, integration is a dynamic, multi-actor process of mutual engagement that facilitates the effective participation by all members of a diverse society economic, political, social and cultural life and fosters a shared and inclusive sense of belonging at national and local levels. To support the integration process, States should adopt policies that aim to create a society in which diversity is respected and everyone contributes to building and maintaining a common and inclusive civic identity. This is achieved by securing equal opportunities for all to contribute to and benefit from these policies. According to the results of the 2020 Ethnobarometer, a large number of young people belonging to ethnic minority groups in Moldova say that they face obstacles to employment in public office. Even though some minority representatives expressed a relatively high level of willingness to work at all levels of state institutions, there is still a high percentage of people (almost every second person) from most ethnic groups (except Bulgarians and Gagauz) who consider that there are many obstacles to employment in public service

The strategy for strengthening interethnic relations in the Republic of Moldova for 2017-2027, contains objectives aimed at encouraging the participation of persons belonging to national minorities, especially young people, in public life and promoting respect for the principle of equality between women and men. The implementation of this project is in line with the above mentioned strategy, thus the expected results of the project will be: the organization of a (1) Public Administration School, which will provide participants with an initial training before taking up a (2) paid internship position in a central public authority. Through the training programme, project beneficiaries will gain the knowledge and tools necessary to be able to increase civic engagement and an interest in the civil service. In the first phase of the project, the beneficiaries will participate within 3 training modules and have visits to various public institutions, while in the second phase, 5 of them will have the opportunity to complete a paid internship in a public institution. The scholarships for the internship will be covered within the current project budget.

Project objectives

The overall objective of the project is to inform young people belonging to ethnic minority groups about the public system and the public policy implementation process in order to encourage civic engagement, participation in public life and an interest in the civil service. In order to achieve this goal, the project will have the following specific objectives:

– SO1: Increase the level of training of 25 young people, representatives of national ethnic minorities, on the political system and public administration in the Republic of Moldova;

– SO2: Empower young people from minority groups, including women, with practical skills in the fields of public service, community development, diversity management and participation in decision-making processes;

– SO3: Integration of 5 representatives of ethnic minority groups within central public authorities through paid internships.

Project activities

The following activities will be implemented between October 2022 and September 2023:

• Introductory online workshop to coordinate project activities internally as well as externally with key project actors, to establish how to cooperate and to ensure a high degree of synergy with other projects. Cooperation modalities may include hosting group visits, offering internships or guest speakers within the training programme.
• Development of the training programme by IPRE experts, in consultation with the partners who will oversee the study programme. The Ministry of Education and Research, the OSCE Office of the High Commissioner on National Minorities and the Agency for Interethnic Relations, together with IPRE, will collaborate on the delivery of an inclusive training programme for the project beneficiaries.
• Selection of 25 young representatives of national ethnic minorities based of a public competition.
• Organisation of the Public Administration School which will consist of 3 training modules and visits to central public authorities.
• Evaluation and selection of 5 qualified candidates for a paid internship. The internships will last 3 months and will give candidates the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the Public Administration School and work together with civil servants from central public authorities.