Mission

Talent for Governance believes that strong local governments are key in creating better living conditions in countries worldwide. That is why we invest in young talented civil servants who need our support to realize their ambitions and their communities ambitions. These civil servants often work in extremely difficult circumstances. Not only are they confronted with corruption, weak leadership, unqualified personnel and a lack of resources, they also have to deal with widespread poverty and a lack of basic services in their communities. On top of that, the civil servants do not have access to the knowledge or training facilities needed to face the challenges.

Talent for Governance provides these young, ambitious civil servants with an opportunity to participate in an international Talentprogramme in The Netherlands, including a practical training course a short internship in a Dutch municipality and a network event. 

Talents need to motivate their choice of thematic Talentprogramme and show its relevance for their work by presenting a practical case from their work, which will be put in to a back-home-action plan. Themes vary from '(female) local leadership', 'Local Economic Development', Climate Change & Sustainable Development' en many more.

The talents meet colleagues from abroad and learn from practices in other countries. During the short internship they can take a look into the Dutch local government practice. The knowledge and experience gained during this programme, the best practices, lessons learned and the organisations and projects visited, will help to broaden their horizon, inspire them and at the same time let them think very practically about what fits their own circumstances.