About the Special Initiative
Special Initiative as part of the Partnering in Business with Germany programme to help strengthen the economy of Ukraine
Funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), this Special Initiative for Ukraine by the Partnering in Business with Germany programme is an instrument for foreign economic development by Germany. BMWK has charged GIZ, a German service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, with implementing the Partnering in Business with Germany programme and its Special Initiative for Ukraine.
Aim of the Special Initiative
Russia’s war on Ukraine has forced large numbers of professionals to flee their country, leaving it devoid of their expertise. The Partnering in Business with Germany’s Special Initiative provides both refugeed Ukrainian professionals and German businesses an attractively tailored prospect for reciprocal learning and collaboration.
The Initiative is designed to help invigorate Ukraine’s economy, but also to prepare it for integration into the EU Single Market. That endeavour requires participation in the Ukraine economy of qualified executives and decision makers who are prepared to help build viable international networks and partnerships, even as the war on their country is ongoing.
It is the aforementioned priorities that shape the agenda of the Special Initiative, which sees German businesses offering Ukrainian professionals who have had to flee their country and are therefore residing in Germany job-shadowing opportunities and, thus, insight into German business practices. The programme enables both parties to forge and develop valuable, long-term connections. The first Special Initiative programme was held in Berlin and Düsseldorf from October to December of 2023 and involved German companies based in those cities. The Initiative allowed participating Ukrainians to broaden their management and intercultural-cooperation skills and to make use of their role as so-called bridging managers to develop projects in unison with their host companies that would help to re-build Ukraine’s economy.
Second round of the Bridging Managers programme to follow the successful pilot project between Germany and Ukraine
A repeat round of the Special Initiative in Berlin and Düsseldorf will get underway next January, with applications now being accepted. The programme will once more be allotted a timeframe of eleven weeks (January to April 2025) and will include job-shadowing and advanced-training components as well as supplemental tutorial support.
The programme
Planned agenda
This next Special Initiative is scheduled to launch in January 2025 and will end with a closing event in mid-April. The eleven-week programme will comprise the following five units:
- One week of introductory training to determine and formulate expectations and learning goals and to outline the bridging-projects concept
- Four weeks of initial job shadowing, in which the participants will familiarise themselves with the processes and procedures at their host companies
- One week of intermediate training aimed at expanding cooperation skills
- Four more weeks of job shadowing, this time with a focus on actual participation in and contribution to selected processes at the host company as well as the possible collaborative development of bridging projects
- One week of final training involving systematic reflection on the experience, final feedback and presentation of the bridging projects developed.
The job-shadowing components will see participants in attendance at their host company, on average, for 6.5 hours per day across a five-day work week. The specific agenda and schedule of those phases will be coordinated with the Ukrainian participants and their in-house mentors.
Bridging projects
As part of the training and job-shadowing programme, the Ukrainian participants will work on cooperation projects between German and Ukrainian enterprises that will help to re-build the economy of Ukraine. The ideas brought forth by those cooperation projects may or may not involve the German host companies. As part of the 2023 programme, two Ukraine executives and their host company developed a concept for a digital marketplace for economic players (chiefly businesses) in Germany and Ukraine. Two other Ukrainian participants in the programme joined forces with their host company in Berlin to work on the realisation of a project idea for the manufacture of solar-operated drinking-water systems. What makes their idea so innovative is that the systems are designed to be mobile units integrated into transportation vehicles – which concept is specifically aligned with the needs in Ukraine as they currently exist.
What people have said about the Programme
While we profited greatly from Rusteem‘s past experience and his tireless spirit, Rusteem himself benefitted from immersing himself back into a more-or-less normal office routine.
The programme gave me the possibility to enter the business environment in Germany, to feel myself the professional I was back in Ukraine and still am now, to be somehow back to the normal everyday work life. It also offered great training, I’ve learned a lot new, and it was a great feeling to be a student again. This programme is valuable and should be continued!
After the first training week, it was easier to understand Germans and their business culture. During my job shadowing, I realised that my opinion meant something to the team. I felt valued and understood. It was a great experience that my opinion was listened to.
Costs and funding
Participation in the Partnering in Business with Germany’s Special Initiative programme is free of charge for the selected participants. Participants are not entitled to remuneration or the provision of accommodation.
The project is funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), which funding includes the training provided at business-focused training centres.
The companies hosting the two four-week job-shadowing components are obliged to provide a designated host professional from their staff as well as work spaces for the participants, and to do so at their own expense.
Oversight and contact information
The Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK)
Partnering in Business with Germany is a global programme for the promotion of foreign trade. It is overseen by the BMWK. The aim of the programme is to initiate business connections between SMEs in emerging economies and Germany. The programme helps some 1000 foreign professionals every year to familiarise themselves with the German marketplace and establish B2B contacts with German businesses likewise interested in entering new markets. This pro-partnership approach fosters long-term business ties and helps to establish a global network of internationally operating SMEs.
Partnering in Business with Germany is a bilateral undertaking between the BMWK and partner ministries subscribed to the programme in other countries. The BMWK has political charge over the Special Initiative for Ukraine and for the Partnering in Business with Germany programme.
Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
The BMWK commissioned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) , a German service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, with implementing the Special Initiative. GIZ collaborates with independent business training centres in Germany. Together with those training centres, they select participants for the programme and then serve as the support contacts for those participants.
Training centres
GIZ has commissioned the training centres AHP International (in Berlin) and Carl Duisberg Centren (in Düsseldorf) to provide training for participants in the Special Initiative programme in Berlin and Düsseldorf, respectively. AHP International and Carl Duisberg Centren base their curricula specifically on the requirements of both the Ukrainian professionals taking part in the programme and the demands of the marketplace in Germany. They also conduct the matching of prospective participants with German host companies – doing so in close coordination with GIZ.
Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry
One of the specific focuses of the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry is on the Ukrainian marketplace. The Chamber is an important contact for businesses operating or planning to operate in Ukraine. The Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a cooperation partner of the Special Initiative for Ukraine.
Our contact
Contact person: Caroline Kigira
E-Mail: ed.zig@gp-evitaitinilaiceps