Transnational Public Administration and Organizing (Baltic Sea Region/EU Eastern Partnership)

SAYP is a training programme developed to build new networks, knowledge and practices for increased transparency, efficiency and resilience in public administration. The programme also aims to strengthen you and your individual capabilities to meet the requirements of a modern governance structure. As a participant of SAYP, you will be able to expand your own contact networks and share ideas, experiences and challenges with other like-minded professionals.

Location: Södertörn University, Stockholm

Dates: 12-24 October 2020

Number of participants: 30

Target countries: Armenien, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Sweden and Ukraine.

Application deadline 11 March, 2020. Notification of acceptance by the end of April 2020.

Cost: Participation in SAYP is free of charge and includes meals, accommodation and travel

Accommodation: Participants will be sharing accommodation (two by two)

Language of instruction: English

Transnational public administration is a daily reality for many civil servants, yet few organizations have tuned their procedures to transnational tasks effectively. Many of today’s challenges do not obey national boundaries, but call forth interaction between public agencies, not only at the state level but also across national borders at various levels of public administration. The Baltic Sea region/Eastern Europe is heavily regulated by various international and regional actors. What happens on the Eastern shore of the Baltic Sea increasingly affects also the Southern and Western shores, and vice versa. In contemporary public administration, it is of great importance to understand and deal with these transnational tasks.

This SAYP module is designed for civil servants, policy decision makers, and civil society actors from all policy fields working with the public sector the Baltic Sea regions/ EU Eastern partnership countries (Armenien, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Sweden and Ukraine), who face the challenges of transnational public administration in their work and wish to understand better the dynamics of both transnational policy processes and their effects upon public organizational procedures.

The module consists of learning activities that combine the disciplines of public administration, political science, public law, business administration, and organization studies. The participants will explore themes of border dynamics, centre-periphery dynamics and legal regulations as foundations of TPAO; knowledge, democracy and cooperation between multiple stakeholders and policy feedback as its key elements; as well as various aspects, including borders and security, that reach beyond the immediate field of TPAO into a broader context of historical and political changes taking place around the Baltic Sea area. In addition, the module zooms in on the organizational level and elucidates the organizational dynamics that affect the TPAO, and organizational challenges that are likely to occur when the transnational dimension enters the organization.

Upon completing the module, the participants will be able:

• to demonstrate understanding of the specificities of TPAO, in particular how it differs from local and national public administration;
• to communicate, reflect upon and critically evaluate the theoretical postulates of TPAO from a multidisciplinary perspective.;
• to apply different organizational perspectives to appraise the internal dynamics that the introduction of a transnational dimension triggers in public organizations.
• to assess the ongoing processes in their home organization from a transnational perspective.

The Academy of Public Administration (Förvaltningsakademin) is a multidisciplinary center at Södertörn University, Stockholm, conducting research on public administration, offering contract education for practitioners, and works for insightful meetings between researchers and civil servants. For more information click here.

The Swedish Institute (SI) is a public agency that promotes interest and trust in Sweden around the world. SI seeks to establish cooperation and lasting relations with other countries through strategic communication and exchange in the fields of culture, education, science and business. SI works closely with Swedish embassies and consulates. For more information about Swedish Institute, SAYP and other thematic modules read more here. 

Eligibility criteria

You can apply if you are:

• Citizen of and currently working in one of the selected countries
• Have good command of English language
• Have a relevant higher education (at least three years)
• 35 years or younger (born 1985- )
• Employed in one of the following groups:

1. Public servants (non-political civil servants working at government agencies)
2. Civil society workers (CSO/NGO employees)
3. Policymakers (politicians, government officials, employees of political parties)

• Citizens of other countries in the regions who are currently employed in one of the participant countries may also apply but will not have priority in the selection of candidates.
• SAYP alumni may apply but do not have priority in the selection of candidates.

Application procedure

The application should contain the following documents:

• Motivation letter (you find the compulsory template on the SI webpage)
• Letter of recommendation (you find a recommended template on the SI webpage)
• English language certificate
• CV Europass (you find the compulsory template on the SI webpage)

Further information

If you have questions about the module and the application process, please contact forvaltningsakademin@sh.se.

With general questions about SAYP, please contact Swedish Institute, hridi.karim@si.se.