About the special initiative

Manager Training Programme – a special initiative for displaced managers from Ukraine

The Manager Training Programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) is a component of Germany’s foreign trade promotion.
BMWK has commissioned the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to act as general manager for the special initiative.

Objective of the special initiative
The war of aggression against Ukraine has forced many highly qualified specialists to leave their country. This sparked the idea to offer Ukrainian specialists and managers who are temporarily resident in Germany an attractive, specially tailored package of services in the form of a special initiative under the Manager Training Programme. The approach is also aligned with the overarching objectives of support measures for Ukraine. The special initiative is to contribute both to rebuilding Ukraine and to bringing the country closer to the EU Single Market. For this, Ukraine will need suitably qualified decision-makers and viable international cooperation arrangements. The special initiative addresses both points.

Refugees who worked as middle managers and executives in Ukraine are to obtain insights into everyday business practice and hone their managerial expertise and capacities to cooperate in the course of several weeks of job shadowing placements in German companies alternating with training units.

In 2023 the special initiative will run on a pilot basis in Berlin and Düsseldorf for entrepreneurs and managers from Ukraine living in these two areas.