Dec 20, 2023

End of Year Note by CEF Director Jana Repanšek

As we near the end of 2023, I would like to take time to reflect on a year filled with collaborative achievements and shared successes. My colleagues and I are very grateful for the continuous support and partnership we have with so many individuals, teams, and institutions across South East Europe.

Some highlights of 2023 include:

  • We welcomed Croatia as a new CEF member and thus also two new Governing Board members: Minister of Finance of Croatia and Governor of the National Bank of Croatia. Governor Sejko of the Bank of Albania chaired the CEF Governing Board until June when Governor Armasu of the National Bank of Moldova assumed chairing. 
  • We initiated several new projects, demonstrating our commitment to the set strategic direction in delivering our added value to public officials in South East Europe. 
  • In Albania, we are for the first time conducting the certification training of public sector internal auditors in (TIAPS). With the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) we embarked on a comprehensive journey to transform the NBM into a learning organization (NBM LearnOrgLab). We continue to develop a community of young professionals, future leaders in the Western Balkans through the WeLead project. With the Montenegrin Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Public Administration, we support their Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting on Public Administration Reform Strategy and Public Financial Management Reform Programe (CEF Facility for Montenegro). 
  • We are successfully transitioning the certification training of public sector accountants (PACT) in North Macedonia to the relevant authorities in the country, and have been delivering our established learning programs that importantly contribute to the continuous professional development of officials working on structural reforms, for public sector accountants and auditors, tax officials, and central bankers.
  • In line with our commitment to sustainability, we intensified our focus on green finance and digitalization.
  • We have evolved our learning approaches to enhance individual, team, and institutional learning. We introduced new learning formats, like job shadowing. 

We look forward to maintaining our strong collaboration in the coming year and invite you to explore our Events page to start making your learning plans. 

On behalf of the CEF team, I wish you a happy holiday season and a good start of 2024. 

Jana Repanšek
Director