Քաղաքականության խորհրդատուների դասընթաց Արևելյան գործընկերների համար, 2018

Source: Policy Advisers Course

This winter, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the School of Public Policy (SPP) at Central European University will organize a five-day intensive training course for young policy advisers from the Eastern part of Europe - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The training seeks to support democratic institutions where junior foreign policy professionals of today will play a crucial role in defining the future trajectory of their nation. Overall, the course aims to cultivate a better understanding of the role of political advisers and tasks that are at the heart of deliberating, shaping and implementing policy.

It will focus on developing practical skills in a number of areas such as

• the role of the policy adviser (core functions and giving good advice);
• shaping complex political environments (devising and implementing strategies; analyzing and understanding the internal and external political context; making decisions with limited information; forecasting and scenario-planning; exercising ethics; upholding democratic values);
• conducting inclusive policy analysis; engaging internal & external stakeholders; building and sustaining relationships and networks; negotiating effectively with respect for mutual interests;
• mastering communication and advocacy (policy writing, speech writing and delivery, devising communication strategies; public diplomacy; working with media outlets; communicating effectively).

The course will build on the training methodology tested in the successful 2014, 2015 and 2016 editions of the course that have so far taken place in Sandö, Budapest, Warsaw, Chisinau, Tunis and Bishkek. The training – which will again be taught by exceptional trainers with extensive professional experience in foreign affairs – will require active participation and engagement and will include writing speeches, talking points and briefing materials. Participants will be challenged to participate in negotiation simulations, and to talk to the press corps in front of a camera.

Read more about the 2015 course here.

In the video below, Eteri Buziashvili from Georgia, Oleg Naumenko from Ukraine and Oxana Paierele from Moldova tell mentor Karin Limdal about their reasons for applying, their expectations, and their reflections from the first day of the 2015 course in Budapest.