Application for Harvard University, JFK School of Government - Analytical skills / Career

  Ever since the age of 11, when the official break-up of Yugoslavia begun, I have experienced armed civil and military conflicts everywhere in the environs of my native country – the Republic of Macedonia. Ultimately, the civil conflict came to be in the Republic of Macedonia as well, in the year 2001. All these civil conflicts emerging from the lack of will for compromise among the key political players in the region provoked conditions of devastation in the area as well as economic recessions and all the phenomena that such recessions bring about. The unemployment figures sky rocked and people were often left to themselves even when their most basic needs were about to be fulfilled. Consequently, common people lost any confidence what so ever in the public institutions of the countries in question. On the other hand, public policy makers were incapable of bringing this trust to its previous levels and dealing with people’s demands in a competent way. As a result, public institutions nowadays, in the Republic of Macedonia, are highly incompetent to deal with the serious difficulties that arise in the transition towards a democratic, open market society. Public servants are not properly educated, they are inefficient, not knowledgeable enough, underpaid, and many times corruptive. The public service in the country incredibly needs first of all, serious reforms in structure, and, second, new people with fresh ideas that would address problems in a skillful and efficient manner. It is certainly a fact that well-educated public leaders are needed now, more than ever in the public administration of the Republic of Macedonia.

  That is exactly the place where I see my future. I want to be a public servant because that is how I can help my country the most at the moment. I want to make my country a prosperous one and prove to all who underestimated the region that its potentials were much higher than everyone expected. I am not afraid of serious challenges and responsibilities, I am not about to migrate to another country and let other environments make use of my potentials like many of my peers did, on the contrary, I will use the knowledge from the developed world to help my country in its search for a better tomorrow. I am not afraid for the future of my country. And I will not complain that the country never did anything to make my life easier, I will take my chances and do for my country much more than what it did for me. I will give my everything and I will make a change, for the better. The problems on the Balkans are serious in their nature: there is too much at stake and the risks of failure are huge. Only highly trained individuals that have the skills to address the problem analytically, to get to the essence of it, people who have the nobleness to compromise, the courage to take important decisions and take responsibility for them, and, the knowledge to manage those decisions successfully until the end are the ones who should be at highly accountable positions in the administration. Those are the characteristics of a true leader, and I expect to become no less after finishing my MPP at the Kennedy School of Government. The challenges arising in the future of the Republic of Macedonia are numerous and various in nature. Still, “the journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step” and I am persuaded that a domino effect will be caused once the problems are addressed at their essence and solved in a permanent manner; the next levels of challenges will just become easier to cope with.

  However it is more than difficult to identify the essence of such problems and come up with a solution satisfying all parties, leading to the prospects of the country. For this purpose, the analytical skills that the MPP program puts emphasis on are more than necessary. The Kennedy School of Government is as very important stepping stone for the plans that I have for my future. It will prepare me in the best way possible for the goals that I have set for myself. The PAC in “Political and Economic Development” will open an opportunity for me to explore my capabilities in that specific field and take my abilities to the maximum.

  Despite all the events that took place in the last decade, I strongly believe that the Republic of Macedonia, with the appropriate public leadership, will in the long-run, become an equal participant in the modern political, economic and technological trends worldwide. I am determined to help as much as I can in making the long-run as short as possible.