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How to become a Ukrainian participant

The application period is now open and closes on 23d of September 2024. Please find the application form under “How to apply for a participant slot”
©GIZ/Jens Jeske

Applicant profile

You are a management-level professional from the private sector in Ukraine. You are currently residing in Germany and would like to gain insight into the workings of a German company. You are planning to return to Ukraine to re-start your company or to newly found a business, or you work in a management position at a Ukrainian company and wish to build connections with German companies. Your vision for a partnership with a German company is that it will benefit both parties.

If this description applies to you, we offer you the prospect of taking part in the Partnering in Business with Germany’s Special Initiative for Ukraine. We invite you to take this opportunity to expand your professional horizon and to make useful contacts. Broaden your management skills through practical training and multi-week job-shadowing units at one of our German host companies.

The benefits you will derive from taking part in the  Partnering in Business with Germany’s Special Initiative for Ukraine programme are manifold:

Access to German companies and networks

The two four-week job-shadowing components at a host company as well as specialised tutoring at selected advanced-training centres will give you easier access to German businesses and networks. The programme provides a wide array of opportunities for dialogue with experts, for exploring possible cooperation and for developing collaborative projects. The connections you make and the enduring opportunity for future ideas sharing can also become a sustainable foundation for further bilateral collaborations down the road.

Intensification of management and cooperation competencies

A German host company will give you insight into its business practices. That kind of insider perspective on its workings can be highly inspirational. And, during the course of your participation in the job-shadowing phases, you will be guided by in-house members of staff and have discussion partners available to you. Those seasoned specialists will expertly guide you and help you to expand your own management and cooperation skills. The Special Initiative is also designed to develop participants’ intercultural understanding and their know-how about markets that function differently to their own.

Support for the recovery and re-building of the Ukraine economy

Upon return to Ukraine, you will be able to make use of the knowledge and skills newly acquired and the connections made to re-start your business or found a new enterprise. The focus of the job-shadowing programme is predominantly on business sectors relevant to the recovery and re-building of the economy of Ukraine. Bilateral economic collaboration between companies in both countries is additionally aimed at bringing Ukraine incrementally closer to EU integration.

How to apply for a participant slot

If you are a management-level employee or executive in the Ukraine’s private sector, you are eligible to submit an easy-to-complete application for participation in the Partnering in Business with Germany’s Special Initiative for Ukraine. The application criteria is as follows:

  • At least several years of professional experience in a management role or as an entrepreneur in Ukraine
  • Arrival in Germany after February 2022 as well as a valid residency permit that covers the duration of the programme
  • Good English language skills
  • Experience in sectors relevant to the re-building of the Ukraine economy is preferred, but not a prerequisite. Those sectors include energy, infrastructure and building, logistics and transportation, (tele-)communications and digitalisation, the health sector, and the legal system.
  • Both the training and job-shadowing components will require personal (versus online) attendance in Berlin or in or around Düsseldorf, depending on where your host company is located. That attendance will be required across the entire timeline of the programme from mid-January to mid-April 2025.

If you are currently receiving citizen’s-income benefits and/or are attending a German-language or integration course, you will need to obtain release permission from your Job Center or course provider for the duration of your participation in the programme. We will be happy to assist by citing the individual benefits of participation in our programme.

The application period is now open and closes on 23d of September 2024, 23:59  CET. Selection interviews will take place starting in late September. Selected prospective participants will thereafter receive notification of a tentative acceptance to the programme, conditional on their successful matching with a German host company. Such matchings are the result of a thorough review of an applicant’s profile and their management experience as well as the given demand for participants at German companies. We can only guarantee placement in the programme once such a matching has been made.

To begin your application for the January intake, please go here “Application Form.” Some useful information:

  • Please send the completed full application form to this email address: ed.zig@gp-evitaitinilaiceps. Additional documents (CV, certificates, photos, etc.) will not be considered for the evaluation of your application. These may, however, be requested after screening of applications and in preparation for the interviews and matching with host companies.
  • Please be aware, that you must tick the box at the end of the form regarding the Data protection declaration. If you do not tick this box, your application will not be processed. The Data protection declaration form is attached for your information.
  • Electronic signatures will be accepted. You do not need to print and scan the application form.
  • Please name the file “AF_Special Initiative_ (your last name)_ (your first name)”.