No less than 25 participants gathered last week in the Ukrainian city of Lviv for the already tenth annual Summer Academy for Eastern Europe and South Caucasus. We were very pleased to welcome young social democratic activists from Armenia (ARF, F21CL, CDSDP), Belarus (BWL and MSD-MH), Georgia (SDDG, GD), Moldova (DPM) and Ukraine (SDP).
Trainers Melantha Chittenden, Rania Ramli (UK Labour Party) and Lobke Zandstra (FMS) facilitated the training together with local trainers of the SD Platform Maria Samoilenko and Andriy Shevchuk. The academy offered skills training on a range of subjects including social democratic ideology and policies, campaign strategies, how to communicate a message, and interview techniques. Participants had the chance to carry through concrete campaign plans on multiple issues including education, health care, youth unemployment (braindrain), corruption and geopolitical tensions.
In order to prepare the participants to become trainers themselves, a workshop was held on how to conduct a good training session. Another particularly important part of the training were the interactive session on debating and interview techniques. A Question Time session was held which led to lively and engaging discussions. In addition, the cross-country nature of the group discussions allowed participants to exchange experiences, learn from each other and form connections to be carried forward for the future.
The Summer Academy is organized by the British Labour Party (through funding from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy), the Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS) and the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. Host of this event is the Institute for Democracy and Social Progress
ARF: Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dasnaktsutsyan; F21CL: Forum for 21st Century Leaders; CDSDP: Citizent’s Deciscion Social Democratic Party; BWL: Belarus Women’s League; MSD-MH: Young Social Democrats – Young Hramada; SDDG: Social Democrats for the Development of Georgia – Women for Justice; GD: Georgian Dream; DPM: Democratic Party of Moldova; SDP: Social Democratic Platform
