Social affairs and Employment

What policies help to promote job creation? How is the social security system organised in The Netherlands? And what can be learned from experiences in the Middle East and North Africa? This was be discussed by senior civil servants from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan in The Hague and Tunis during a blended learning programme offered from 2012 to 2015 by The Hague Academy in cooperation with ROI (Dutch Institute for Public Administration) and CNV International.

This training programme on social affairs and employment was yearly organised and took place partly in the Netherlands, Tunisia and Jordan. After completion of the programme, the participants had:

• Increased theoretical knowledge on and understanding of social affairs and employment policies, both at an international and at a national level (The Netherlands and the target countries);
• Enhanced the following practical skills; Analytical skills, working in teams, (International) negotiation, change management, presentation skills
• Increased knowledge of and insight in Dutch practice and best practices in the MENA-region;
• Established sustainable relationships with colleagues from the target countries and The Netherlands.

This programme was part of a larger Matra-South programme that has been developed by the Ministry of Foreign affairs to support the sustainable democratic transition in the Arabic region. The programme supported both economic development as well as societal transformation and cooperation with central en decentralised governments.