In Arabic, shiraka means partnership. With the Shiraka programme, the Netherlands supports societal development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The main focus is social contracts between the government and citizens. Shiraka focuses on the involvement of civilians in governance and governments’ service delivery for citizens.

The Shiraka Training Programme (STP) is part of the Shiraka Programme, developed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It supports societal development in the MENA region. The STP consists of 2-week training courses.

STP focuses on governments’ public service delivery for citizens, involving civilians in this process. The training courses are open to government employees from the following countries and states:

Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Tunisia

The training on Legislation helps participants to:
• improve knowledge and skills in the field of legislative drafting;
• learn from Dutch best practices in legislative drafting;
• act as change agent in their home country;
• share knowledge and skills in their home country;
• develop a valuable network of peers in their region, country and in the Netherlands;
• strengthen connections with the Netherlands and stakeholders in the Dutch justice sector.

The training course covers the following topics:

• The Dutch system, including the role of the legislation and the legislative process;
• Policy and practice for legislative quality in the Netherlands;
• Tools and resources of Dutch legislative drafters;
• Skills and tools for change management and personal leadership.