“Partnership for Change”, the Slovenian public-private sector exchange programme
The idea came to Boris Koprivnikar, the Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Public Administration Minister, when he met with young Americans during a trip to the US. It involved setting up a bold and innovative exchange programme between his civil servants and private sector workers designed to break stereotypes, share best practices and move boundaries to show that cooperation between the public administration and business in a new, different and innovative manner, works.
In 2015, the Ministry of Public Administration signed a partnership agreement with the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia (AmCham Slovenia) for an initial exchange involving 27 employees. Buoyed up by positive feedback which provided a substantial boost for the public sector’s image, the programme was both renewed for a second round and gradually extended to include other ministries and more Slovenian and international companies based in the country. The number of participants has increased five-fold over the last three years and the project now counts eight ministries and 46 businesses.
work together to come up with proposals for innovative solutions to one of the five common challenges identified for the Partnership for Change:
• Cooperation across the ministries
• Employee motivation
• Slovenian national brand (I Feel Slovenia)
• E-public services
• Skills of the 21st century
From the outset, the project has been supported by the highest government echelons. Prime Minister Miro Cerar describes it as “an example of a future cohabitation model in modern Slovenia”. He also emphasised the excellent collaboration between two important players in society which encourages further partnerships between the economy and state administration.
FThe Partnership for Change programme has already begun to be acknowledged outside Slovenia. In 2016, it was awarded the Creative Network Award. In 2017, it was selected, from over 150 applications, to be presented at the World Government Summit, that was organised by the OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation and held in Dubai.
