The wrap up event, which took place last Wednesday 16 October 2013 in the House of the Cantons in Bern, marked the end of the Internship Programme 2013. 4 participants from Argentina, Nepal, Cameroon and Bosnia Herzegovina had had the possibility to gain insight into the activities of Swiss cantonal authorities of the cantons of Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen and Vaud. Furthermore they had worked on their own state comparing project and the results had been presented in the respective cantonal departments.

This programme, which is organised by the Conference of the Cantonal Governments and the Institute of Federalism, received a very positive response from the participants as well as from their supervisors from the cantons. It was a win-win situation for both sides and the fruitful discussions led to new insights, even though in some cases a culture clash had to be handled in the beginning («Here in Switzerland, everything just works»). The participants’ expectations have even been exceeded.