Center of Excellence in Finance
Learning and Regional Cooperation in South East Europe
Our partners
We can fulfill our mission only if we create and maintain strategic partnerships with other leading institutions. We seek to assure effective division of labor and harmonize our efforts, but also to capitalize on each partner’s comparative strengths.
The CEF has close ties and common activities with a variety of partners: multilateral and bilateral organizations, knowledge institutions, and peer organizations. This strong and reliable partner network creates valuable synergies. The partners share our commitment to the region’s reform efforts. They draw upon our knowledge of the region’s needs to leverage their resources, and working jointly with the CEF helps expand the reach and impact of their efforts. Partners, in turn, contribute top-quality expertise to the CEF’s programs.
Contributing top-quality expertise to our learning programs
We strengthen the quality of learning programs by building strong relationships with organizations that have unparalleled knowledge in our topic areas.
Partner profile: The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
Starting in 2006 with the Training of Internal Auditors in the Public Sector (TIAPS) program in Slovenia, our partnership has expanded steadily, serving public accountants and internal auditors in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, and Montenegro.The joint efforts include making training available in local languages. CIPFA's practical focus on high-quality knowledge and skills in public financial management and control complements the CEF's skills in implementation. Today the training programs for public sector accountants and internal auditors are recognized in the South East Europe region as efficient and hands-on capacity building efforts that match the recipient countries' needs. New requests for training by recipient countries and donors prove the success of this partnership.
Other:
Strong ties with the Slovenian Government
The CEF is both international in scope and a uniquely Slovenian institution. We were established by the Slovenian government on the initiative of Slovenia’s Ministry of Finance, and we are one of the official channels for implementing Slovenia’s international development cooperation.
Partner profile: Slovenia
The government of Slovenia guides our work through the Management Board and, through the Ministry of Finance, provides our headquarters in Ljubljana. It is the main donor to our Workshops & seminars program and partners with us to support certification programs for public sector accountants and internal auditors in Slovenia and across the region.Amid recent economic uncertainty, our Slovenian partners have shown unflagging support for the CEF’s mission to promote awareness of international standards and best practice in the region’s public financial management and central banking.
Along with the Ministry of Finance, a number of Slovenian institutions—the Bank of Slovenia, Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, line ministries, and many others—participate heavily in CEF workshops & seminars, which offer a key resource to support the continuous professional development of their staff.
Both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have provided valuable assistance to the CEF’s upcoming change in status to a full-fledged, but still Slovenian-based, international organization.
Partnering creates synergies for training and technical assistance
We achieve significant results by working with a wide range of multilateral partners. Their reach, specialization, and other strengths help us meet our objectives for capacity development in member countries. In turn, they gain from our extensive knowledge of the region's training needs.
Partner profile: International Monetary Fund
To address our member countries' priorities and needs, we work closely with the International Monetary Fund, through the Fiscal Affairs Department (IMF FAD), whose regional technical assistance advisors for South East Europe use the CEF as their hub for missions.Our organizations' efforts in the region are complementary and mutually reinforcing. IMF technical assistance missions help pinpoint needs for learning and knowledge sharing among practitioners.
The CEF designs workshops that address these needs, bringing together peer institutions and experts from the region and beyond. Many of the learning activities are delivered by the IMF's advisors, who contribute content that is strongly informed by their missions. This learning deepens the benefits of technical assistance while helping the IMF advisors prioritize areas that need further work.
These unique synergies have contributed to a steady rise in our member countries' demand for help with capacity development. Excellent cooperation with the IMF and its advisors promotes sustainable capacity development in our member countries.
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IMF Public Financial Management Advisor, South East Europe -
IMF Tax Administration Reform Advisor South East Europe
Other:
Working together to deliver optimum results by using each partner's comparative strengths
We have established successful cooperation with a number of bilateral institutions, and we are always looking to expand this type of partnership.
We offer our partners extensive knowledge about the region’s needs, which helps them leverage their efforts and increase their impact. Our skills in implementation complement our partners’ top-notch content experts, which enables us to offer relevant, timely, and top-quality learning to our members.
Partner profiles:
Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands
De Nederlandsche Bank
The Dutch Ministry of Finance and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) are two of the CEF’s most important partners in delivering our workshops and seminars. Since 2001, over 100 Dutch experts have helped us provide almost 80 learning events. Working with the CEF is a key part of their outreach to transition countries. In turn, the partnership has allowed us to expand our course offerings and deepen their quality.
Dutch experts frequently serve as guest lecturers in two- to three-day missions. These in-kind contributions to the CEF offer a solid platform for an effective experience sharing and peer learning. Courses have covered a wide range of topic areas: risk compliance management and modernization efforts in tax administrations, capital budgeting, audit of IT projects, the auditor’s role in detecting fraud and corruption, retail payments, wholesale settlement systems, monetary policy, and introduction to central banking. They allow participants to benefit from Dutch experience and lessons learned, while the lecturers gain perspective on the challenges and progress in reform across CEF member countries.
This excellent cooperation will continue to flourish, introducing new courses and subject areas while focusing on a hands-on and experienced-based approach.
Other:
Working closely to build on each other’s knowledge
We work bilaterally with peer institutions and in broader networks to learn from the policy and practice of other donors and training institutions as well as share with them our own rich experience from the field.
