"The Constituency Program of the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands is a dedicated program for technical cooperation with the countries that share our constituencies at the IMF, World Bank, and the EBRD. For me and my team, it is a real pleasure to work with our colleagues in these countries. We are glad we can contribute to their reforms in public financial management. These reforms are crucial, considering, for example, the aspirations for the EU accession. In our efforts, we pay special attention to the sustainability of attained knowledge and its institutional anchoring.

At the same time, we see that our partners in the constituency countries, such as ministries of finance, tax administrations, and central banks, are struggling to retain their staff and talents and, as a result, to retain valuable knowledge. For reforms to be sustainable, retaining talent and knowledge is essential. In this regard, we feel that a focus on “softer” skills, like knowledge sharing, personal development, and talent management, which will enable staff to thrive and perform, is also a key to success.

Organizations increasingly acknowledge these challenges and act on them, as we can see in the case of the LearnOrgLab project in Moldova. For the Constituency Program, this project is an excellent opportunity to cooperate with two of our longstanding partners, the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) and the CEF.

The project envisions supporting the NBM in transforming into a learning organization through individual, team, and institutional capacity development. Special emphasis is placed on creating a knowledge-sharing ecosystem that increases staff connectivity within the NBM and shares these experiences with other stakeholders in Moldova, such as the Ministry of Finance and the State Tax Service. We support the NBM staff involved in the project to become brokers of knowledge and skills. We believe that building up the learning culture and capacity will enhance NBM’s potential to thrive and achieve its strategic goals. We aim to see increased overall employee, team, and organizational performance; improved horizontal collaboration and co-creation; and the establishment of an environment of a learning organization ready to function as a reliable partner for interinstitutional knowledge exchange in Moldova and regionally in the long term.

We commend the NBM for its leadership and commitment to this project. We also thank the CEF for its ability to tailor its horizontal programs focused on learning and leadership to the needs of individual institutions, as seen in Moldova. With the CEF’s participatory approach to learning, the project also brings many memorable networking events and fun, as I have witnessed myself in Chisinau. So, join us as partners and co-donors in this journey.”