Development of more transparent transversal skills to connect with the EU

"<< Background >>The ""Connected to EU"" project was born out of the need to address the structural fragility of public administration, highlighted by the health emergency, and the lack of adequate competencies among managerial staff.Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU establishes that Union institutions must operate in the most transparent way possible to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society. Public bodies can benefit from greater legitimacy and effectiveness only if they are fully accountable to society and citizens.To be efficient and effective, an administrative system must impact the value system of society and enable all citizens to participate more easily and actively in the decision-making process.It is therefore essential to invest in the human capital managing these systems, developing not only technical skills but, most importantly, transversal skills for those tasked with leading public institutions.The project aims to foster a constructive dialogue and international cooperation to develop a community of public administrations that aspire to excellence and to create guidelines for public executives.<< Objectives >>The main objectives the project aimed to achieve were:- Create constructive dialogue and international cooperation to form a community of public administrations aspiring to excellence.- Develop guidelines for public managers to enhance their personal and organizational soft skills and digital capabilities, with the goal of making public bodies best practices.- Address the need for improving public administration efficiency through digital transformation, especially in light of weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 crisis.- Develop transversal and digital skills of public managers to make public bodies more effective, accountable, and resilient.Build a network for proactive discussion on the state of public administration across the partner countries (Italy, Romania, Czech Republic).- Create an interactive technological infrastructure for information and training aimed at developing soft skills and promoting best practices among public managers.- Produce guidelines on becoming a ""virtual public executive"" to help make public institutions best practices.- Promote active citizenship and improve dialogue between citizens and public administration.- Increase the quality of work in public organizations.<< Implementation >>The phases of the ""Connected to EU"" project were structured as follows:Phase I - Context Analysis:Analysis of the reference contexts and data collection in the participating countriesEvaluation of the collected dataMapping of public bodies and census of target adults with a focus on soft skillsData clustering using probabilistic sampling (15 managers per country)Phase II - Development of the Model:Identification of monitoring indicators to define the ideal state of a public bodyDefinition of the model for developing the soft skills of the virtuous public managerCreation of a new non-formal investigation methodologyAdministration and evaluation of the survey resultsIdentification of personal and professional growth competenciesPhase III - Information/Training:Creation of an interactive technological infrastructure for information and trainingDevelopment of tools for organizational and strategic managementExperimentation, monitoring, and evaluation of the training modelPhase IV - Evaluation, Dissemination, and Replicability:Creation of guidelines for becoming a virtual public executiveAnalysis of the project's replicability to other target groupsDissemination of results<< Results >>The main concrete outputs and results of the project so far included:A joint report on the shared analysis of organizational and strategic management of public bodies and soft skills of target adults in the three partner countries (Italy, Romania, Czech Republic).Development of a soft skills development model for virtuous public managers.Creation of an interactive technological infrastructure for information and training, including: A project website (www.connectedtoeu.eu), An e-learning platform with training modulesImplementation of e-learning activities for target groups in each partner country.Collection of feedback and creation of individual analysis reports on the e-learning activities.Development of the structure and initial content for guidelines on becoming a ""virtual public executive"" to help make public institutions best practices.Organization of multiplier events to disseminate project results in partner countries (two completed so far, one upcoming).Regular transnational project meetings (both virtual and in-person) to coordinate activities and monitor progress.Ongoing dissemination activities through various channels (websites, social media, articles, etc.).full guidelines document."