The workshop “TAIEX and Twinning: continuing the dialogue on institutional capacity building” was held

On 4 September 2025, the workshop “TAIEX and Twinning: continuing the dialogue on institutional capacity building” was held. The event was organised and conducted as a result of cooperation between the National Agency for Civil Service, the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to Standards of the European Union, the High School of Public Governance, and the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Ukraine.

The participants were welcomed by Nataliia Aliushyna, Head of the National Agency for Civil Service, Stefan Schleuning, Head of Cooperation Programmes at the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, and Oleksandr Ilkov, Director General of the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration.

Nataliia Aliushyna emphasised the important role of the TAIEX institutional capacity building instrument in the development of European integration processes in Ukraine. This instrument serves as a bridge of trust and partnership between the Ukrainian civil service and the European community, as it provides access to the best practices, attracts leading European experts, and enables the formation of teams capable of working on a par with European institutions.  

 
In his welcoming speech, Stefan Schleuning noted Ukraine’s strong partnership with its European partners on its path to European integration, in the course of reforms in the field of public administration and the implementation of EU standards, and expressed his gratitude for the openness to fruitful cooperation and joint implementation of initiatives. 
 
 
In his remarks to the participants, Oleksandr Ilkov emphasised the positive dynamics of the negotiation process regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU and the importance of the Twinning and TAIEX institutional development instruments in ensuring this progress. In addition, the Director General of the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration thanked the Center for Adaptation of the Civil Service to the Standards of the European Union for its expert support and coordination of state authorities in the practical application of these instruments.
 
 
The Director of the Center, Maryna Kanavets, presented information to the participants on the role of the Center and the Administrative Office of the Twinning Program in the use of TAIEX in Ukraine. The participants also noted the activity and initiative of state authorities in applying the instrument in practice and, as a result, significant achievements and experience in the implementation of relevant projects.
 
The main objective of the workshop was to consider the potential of the TAIEX instrument in the context of building institutional capacity for public administration in EU candidate countries, particularly Ukraine, to analyse practical experience of its use, and to identify opportunities for the effective use of TAIEX to support reforms. The workshop also served as a continuation of the dialogue on the implementation of the Twinning programme. During the theoretical part, participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the mechanisms of both instruments, identify priority topics for preparing applications, and receive practical recommendations for developing project initiatives.
 
 
During the second part of the seminar, which was practical in nature, participants worked in groups to model the development of a TAIEX application, focusing in detail on each component of the procedure, and compared TAIEX and Twinning applications in a ‘blitz case’ format in order to consolidate the theoretical knowledge they had acquired.
 
 

The seminar was an important part of the practical training of representatives of Ukrainian state authorities in preparing TAIEX project applications, as on 15 September 2025, the NAUCS will begin collecting project applications for the European Commission’s External Assistance Plan under the TAIEX instrument for 2026. This will be an important step in the formation of requests for technical assistance aimed at supporting reforms, strengthening the institutional capacity of state authorities and bringing Ukraine closer to European Union standards.