Great effort has been exercised in the establishment of an independent and professional public administration as the best means to actualize a functioning democracy and develop a market economy in small states. The Republic of Macedonia provides a case study in such activities.

Significant resources have been allocated to establishment of an independent and professional public administration in Macedonia, including a €1.3 million project to develop public administration reforms (PAR). One objective of this project was to revise and upgrade the PAR strategy and provide support in its implementation, including the development of cooperation with the civil sector. Additionally, there has been continued progress in the reform of the Macedonian parliament, which took measures to strengthen its institutional capacity through the establishment of the Parliamentary Institute.

In keeping with the government’s continuing commitment to PAR and the long term development strategy for professionalizing the Macedonian public administration, the newly formed Information Technology and Administration Ministry has been tasked with implementing the activities set with the Action Plan of the Strategy Reforming the Public Administration in Macedonia in 2010-2015  as well as the new PAR legislation and reforms of vital importance to Macedonia’s ascension to the EU.

Clearly, in order to meet EU and other vital constituency goals, Macedonia must have a skilled and responsible administration able to deal with the political and economic challenges that lie ahead. The Ministry is presently conducting an analysis of public institutions in order to make the administration more efficient, and transform the concept of how public administration and public employees work.  This will require targeted and effective professional training.

ESSI will undertake a sponsored research project to investigate the effectiveness of professional training models in European small states by assessing levels of learning achieved using a range of different teaching techniques. This will be applied to preparation for work in the public administration sector.