19 October 2026, Skopje, North Macedonia

Developing skills of public servants begins with investing in the people who make it work. This message was at the heart of today’s conference “Roadmap for the Academy for Professional Development and Training of Administrative Servants: A Shared Mission,” organised by the Ministry of Public Administration of North Macedonia in Skopje. The event brought together national institutions, ReSPA, international partners and donors to discuss the next steps in establishing the Academy as a sustainable institution for the continuous professional development of public servants.

Opening the conference, Goran Mincev, Minister of Public Administration, underlined the importance of the Academy for strengthening the professionalism and capacity of the public administration. Together with Jelena Mrdak, ReSPA Director ad interim, he opened a discussion focused not only on the Academy’s institutional development, but also on how partners can align their support around a common national vision. The programme also presented the Academy’s four-phase roadmap and priority areas for further support. 

The roadmap comes at an important stage in the Academy's development. According to the Ministry’s concept, the next phase will address areas including institutional development, training needs assessment, curricula, a Learning Management System and digital learning content, development and certification of trainers, quality assurance and infrastructure planning. The conference was also designed to strengthen coordination among partners and avoid duplication of support. 

ReSPA has already been actively supporting the Ministry in translating this vision into an operational and sustainable model. At the end of August this year, ReSPA’s Rozalija Karchicka-Vasilevska facilitated an intensive working session with the Ministry team to support the development of the Academy’s roadmap and operational framework. Importantly, the responsibilities, timelines, resources and risks were developed by the Ministry’s own team - reflecting ReSPA’s approach to institutional mentoring: strengthening institutions to lead the process themselves and ensuring ownership as the foundation of sustainability. 

“The true measure of the Academy’s success will not be the number of courses it delivers, but the public servants who leave those courses more confident, more capable and better equipped to serve citizens. Our role is not to build the institution instead of the Ministry, but to strengthen its capacity to lead it - because ownership is what makes reform sustainable,” said Mrdak.

Looking ahead, ReSPA will continue to support the Academy through the development of new e-learning modules, access to ReSPA’s existing learning content, and, importantly, by opening its regional network of expertise and peers across the Western Balkans and the European Union. 

The event also highlighted that the Academy cannot and should not be built by one organisation alone. Its roadmap provides a common direction for national institutions and international partners to coordinate their support, contribute where they can add the greatest value and keep the Ministry firmly in the lead. 

For ReSPA, supporting the Academy reflects a broader commitment to strengthening professional, merit-based and future-ready public administrations across the region. As North Macedonia advances reforms and its European integration agenda, developing the skills, professionalism and adaptability of public servants remains essential for transforming policies into tangible results for citizens.