ERP and IPA Coordinators: Way Forward Is in Collaboration
We were happy to bring together public officials involved in the Economic Reform Programme (ERP) development process and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III) Programming from the Western Balkans and Türkiye. We discussed possible ways of linking policy measures of the ERP with the IPA III. Teaming up with the IEDC-Bled School of Management we also explored models of collaboration that can boost synergies between the ERP as a process and IPA as a supporting instrument.
After the welcoming remarks by Jana Repanšek, CEF Director, Drikus Kriek, Dean of IEDC – Bled School of Management, and Maja Handjiska Trendafilova, Director of the Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA), the ERP and IPA coordinators reviewed the various roles they hold and agreed that the stronger cooperation will increase efficiency in coordination in their work areas. In this regard, Ms. Repanšek highlighted the need for understanding self and own leadership strengths as this is crucial to be able to exercise leadership as a collaborative act. “Each of us is a leader in our own right. Our strength comes from the knowledge and networks we belong to. We enable each other’s learning and with this, we are leaders of our own learning.” pointed out Ms. Repanšek.
In continuation, the ERP and IPA coordinators explored the principles of participatory leadership which scales up from personal to systemic usage of dialogue, facilitation, collaboration, and co-creation of new solutions to address complex challenges that we face in our organizations today.
The event took place on September 27 – 29, 2022 in Bled, Slovenia. It was delivered as part of the EU-funded multi-beneficiary project “Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks” (FISR2) implemented by the CEF.