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.
How to become a host company
Is yours a particularly enterprising German business interested in proactively helping to re-build the Ukraine economy? Are you planning to establish connections to Ukraine or to expand on your existing enterprises in that region? Would you be interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to engage directly with skilled management-level professionals from Ukraine? Do you take the view that personal contact and reciprocal learning in your day-to-day business are valuable to the establishment of long-term partnerships?
If so, the Special Initiative for Ukraine can afford your company the following benefits:
Forging of valuable connections
Your German business will be given the opportunity to host Ukrainian professionals taking part in the Special Initiative. The job-shadowing programme will give you and your employees a chance to engage personally with Ukrainian management-level workers and explore cooperation prospects, but also to expand your network.
Exploration of business opportunities in Ukraine
The connections you will build as part of the job-shadowing programme will no doubt be helpful for any future enterprise in Ukraine. What’s more, participation in the Special Initiative will enable you to broaden your knowledge and understanding of the Ukrainian market and to expand your intercultural know-how – both of which are imperative for the success of any business aspirations in Ukraine.
Contribution to the economic recovery of Ukraine
German businesses are already widely committed in Ukraine. You can be part of that movement through your support in the targeted further development of skilled Ukrainian professionals.
We are seeking 20 businesses based in Berlin and 20 in Düsseldorf to take part in our programme. These are the prerequisites for hosting one or more Ukrainian participants:
-
- Businesses based in Berlin or in the greater Düsseldorf area
- Good English language skills on the part of the designated in-house mentor
- Interest in business partnerships in Ukraine
- We are looking most particularly, but not exclusively, for companies from business sectors which have an especially important role to play in the re-building of the Ukraine economy, including energy, infrastructure and building, logistics and transportation, (tele-)communications and digitalisation, and businesses in the health sector.
As part of the two four-week job-shadowing components, the host companies will designate an in-house mentor and provide work spaces at their own expense. Should the host company not be able to provide worker’s insurance for the participants in the job-shadowing programme, the Initiative will arrange basic accident and third-party-liability coverage. The Ukrainian participants will not be entitled to remuneration or the provision of living quarters. The participants will be reimbursed by the Initiative for any costs for commuting by local public transport.
If you are interested in taking part in the programme as a German host company, please get in touch with us as follows:
for Berlin: AHP International
for Düsseldorf: Carl Duisberg Centren
We will be happy to answer any preliminary questions you may have, in which case we would ask you to contact us
How to become a Ukrainian participant
The application period is now open and closes on 15th of September 2024. Please find the application form under “How to apply for a participant slot”
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 15th 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)”.
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