Why Talent for Governance?
In many parts of the world, local civil servants work under difficult circumstances. The communities for which they work are characterised by widespread poverty, a lack of basic services, high unemployment rates and environmental challenges. Moreover, their organisations often lack qualified staff and the financial resources needed to deal with these challenges.
Still, there are many young, ambitious civil servants that strive for better services and the development of their local communities. Talent for Governance supports them by providing opportunities for knowledge exchange and training so that they can develop their skills and realise their ambitions.
Who do we support?
Young civil servants employed by a regional or local government in a developing country (e.g. municipality, district, town, province or water authority) are eligible for the Talent for Governance programme. They must have a strong motivation and a concrete project or idea to improve the performance of the organisation and create better services for their community.
Moreover, the Talents who participate have to live and work in a low or middle income country (as listed on the OECD/DAC- country list), are not older than 37 years, have at least two years of work experience in local governance and are committed to work there for at least two years more. They must to speak and understand the English language well. Furthermore, the Talents must show a strong motivation for the programme and explain its relevance to their work.
Finally, to be able to participate in the programme and implement their Back Home Action Plan, the Talents need a letter of support from their employer.
What does it consist of?
The Talent programme consists of a two-weeks training in The Hague, followed by a three day internship hosted by a Dutch local government organisation. On the Monday before the internship, The hague Academy prepares the Talents for their trip to the internship municipality. On the Friday after the internship, they report back on what they’ve learned and how they will proceed with their Back Home Action Plan.
All Talent programmes are organised around a different local governance theme and linked to a training course at The Hague Academy for Local Governance. Themes of the Talent programmes include Citizen Participation & Inclusive Governance, Local Economic Development, Inclusive Service Delivery & the SDGs, Climate Change & Resilient Cities, Fiscal Decentralisation & Local Finance and Multilevel Water Governance.
Every Talent programme is composed of four different parts:
1. International practice-oriented training course at The Hague Academy for Local Governance
In the two-week training course, modules provided by international experts and workshops of trainers are combined with field visits, case discussions, role play and simulation games. During the course, the Talents exchange their knowledge with instructors and other participants from around the globe. To make sure that the things they learn are relevant for their work back home, the programme focuses on how the participants can apply lessons and experiences from other countries into their own, local context. Learning from each other, exchanging ideas and experiences and getting to know different practices in order to broaden your scope of reference, is what the training courses are all about!
2. Three-day internship at a Dutch local organisation
During the internship, the Talents experience work practices and processes of a Dutch government organisation. They visit multiple departments and projects, and attend meetings with civil svernats and citizens. They also take part in exchange events to learn first-hand from their Dutch colleagues, and vice versa. The Talents usually have an opportunity to network with local ‘young civil servant’-networks, for instance during a city tour or an informal reception. Often, the Talents stay with a host family from the municipality where they have their internship.
3. Networking activities
Our The Hague Academy alumni network gives Talents the chance to communicate with colleagues from all around the world, before, during and after their programme. They use this community to give regular updates about their work and the progress of the Back Home Action Plan.
Moerover, during the Talent programmes ‘live’ networking activities are organised through different forms. During one programme, for instance, the Talents visited the national ‘Young Civil Servants Day’ where they presented their work and their countries. Also, Talents were invited for a networking event with the trainee group of the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG).
4. Back Home Action Plan
The starting point of the learning process are the issues and challenges of the young talents themselves. They will be responsible for their own learning process and are encouraged to critically reflect on the theory and examples they are provided with. They will also be invited to ask questions to the Dutch colleagues they meet during field visits and internships.
During the Talent programme, the Talents will relate the content and practices back to their own context. Foregoing the programme, they present a real life case that they want to address will try to find the answers they need. In a Back Home Action Plan, the Talents describe how they are planning to address the issue back home and how they will share the knowledge they gained with their colleagues.
After the programme, the Talents will post regular updates on the progress of their project and share other news, questions, experiences etc.
HOW?
Talent for Governance is the talent programme of The Hague Academy for Local Governance. We raise funds with Dutch municipalities, organisations, businesses and individuals to make the programme possible.
The Talent for Governance programme aims to be all-inclusive. The talent programme covers tuition, travel, accommodation and most living expenses in The Netherlands. The Hague Academy will select the travel arrangements and accommodation and about half of the costs of the living expenses which entail three meals a day – meaning breakfast, lunch and dinner.
All selected local government practitioners are asked to make their own financial contribution to the Talent for Governance programme. This is a relatively small part of the financial costs of the programme. Through this investment, the Talent also shows commitment to the programme and their own development. The amount asked of the talent is 150 Euros. This amount will be deducted from the allowance we calculate for basic living expenses mentioned above, which means the talent pays for about half the additional living expenses during the programme in the Netherlands themselves.
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