The first joint seminar in the frames of the Western Balkans Fellowship Programme at the Austrian Parliament which is funded by the Austrian Parliament and realised in cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans is being held in Vienna from May 16 to May 19th, 2022.
The seminar will gather the fellows from the first two generation of the fellowship programme which was designed for civil servants working in the administrations of the National Parliaments in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
This parliamentary staff scholarship program was established in 2019 by the Austrian Parliament and the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) in order to strengthen parliamentary democracy in the Western Balkans. The programme enables the parliamentary staff from the WB6 countries to become familiar first hand with the parliamentary work in Austria, during a six-week on-site visit, and to become involved and cooperate in various spheres. It offers a unique opportunity to gain knowledge about the operations and practices of the Austrian Parliament as well as to observe and to learn from the administrative staff and professionals about the different aspects of their work.
The joint seminar will round up the whole learning experience and exchange of know-how with an extensive agenda of on-site visits, teambuilding sessions and meetings with the parliamentary groups for the respective countries.
After the welcome visit to the office of the Secretary General of the Austrian Parliament, Mr.Harald Dossi, the Fellows will have an opportunity to meet with officials from different institutions like the House of European Union, the Court of Auditors, the Austrian Ombudsman Board, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Austrian National Council, as well as discussions with the MP's of the Parliamentary Bilateral Groups for the Western Balkans.
In the frames of the seminar the Fellows will be hosted at the Erste Stiftung Foundation which was also one of the partners for the launch of the pilot edition of the programme in 2019. As an add on to the versatile agenda a presentation of the work of our Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group will be given by BiEPAG’s Member Vedran Dzihic.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in the previous two years, the two cohorts will receive their certificates at the end of the seminar. The next call will be published in the coming weeks, so please check our website for further info on how to apply.
