Shiraka Training Programme (STP) - Public Financial Management 2026
Application open
Who is the course for?
We invite government officials who are ambitious and like to learn more about professionalising their public services in Public Financial Management to register for this training course. This is a unique opportunity to share your knowledge and skills with other participants and be inspired by colleagues abroad. This training course is for government officials in the target countries of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories and Tunisia. To register, you must have between 5 to 10 years of relevant work experience in Public Financial Management. Since this is a once in a lifetime experience, you can only participate in a Shiraka training once, and only if you have not previously participated in another Shiraka training programme. Since we value diversity among our participants, we encourage women to take part. This training programme is part of the ‘Shiraka’ training programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Shiraka aims to strengthen and improve bilateral relations between the Netherlands and the MENA region in the public sector and offers an opportunity to improve public services through reciprocal inspiration. For more information on the Shiraka Training Programme please watch this video.
Shiraka Training Programme
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Watch the video on the original website orTraining course goal
The Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands is organising the PFM professional development course with the following goals:
• gain comprehensive insight into the budget cycle of the Netherlands: from budget preparation to accountability;
• learn about decentralized budget responsibility and the importance of independent institutions;
• discuss with the Inspectorate of the Budget on best practices in monitoring, controlling and evaluating public expenditures;
• share your knowledge and skills in your home country;
• develop a valuable network of peers in your region, country and in the Netherlands;
• strengthen your connections with the Netherlands and the Dutch government; especially between Dutch government service and their counterparts in the target countries.
Training course topics
The two-week training course is divided into two distinctive elements. It will focus in the first week on the PFM system in the Netherlands and the budget cycle. In the second week of the training, attention will shift to PFM systems of the countries of the participants themselves and a number of case studies will be discussed. The following topics will be covered:
• the Dutch PFM system is internationally acknowledged for its transparency and high level of decentralization. Strong independent institutions safeguard the system’s transparency and independence;
• the Dutch financial system within the central government is to a large extent decentralized, i.e. line ministers are responsible for their own budget chapter and defend their budgets in parliament;
• implementation and evaluation is largely mandated or delegated to agencies. The focus of the course is on the central government, as local government is a separate and largely autonomous tier of government. Moreover, the Netherlands has years of experience with programme based budgeting, which will also be an element of the course;
• in the second week of the training, attention will shift to the PFM systems of the countries of the participants themselves and a number of case studies will be discussed.
Training course details
Since all the sessions are in English, we recommend an intermediate level of English.
• Live interpretation during meetings and sessions into Arabic and/or French is available.
• We can offer the training course to 25 people. We will allocate these places to the participating countries based on the quality of the applications.
• The entire training course will last for 2 weeks (10 working days). We expect you to attend all sessions.
• Study visits and social activities are part of the training course.
• You will receive a certificate of participation upon completing the course
For more information, please check the documents attached to the right column.