2013-11-18

November 16-18, EPSAYA public union organized the third 3 days training courses within the project of “Leadership school for regional youth” with the financial support of the US Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the 20 youth participants from the 13 different regions of the Azerbaijan Republic. There were 10 women and 10 men youth participants in the training courses. Besides the staff and participants the officer of the Public Affairs Section Mr. Stephen Guice and the employee of the Public Affairs Section Mrs. Gulara Alakbarova as well as Mr. Yusif Khaniyev, Senior Advisor of the Department of Public-Political and Humanitarian issues of Lankaran City Executive Power participated in the training course. During the training courses the staff and the participants discussed a lot of themes related to leadership skills – “Advocacy - the protection of public interests, selection of the problem, public awareness and advocacy session: Advocacy - the concept of advocacy, the goals and objectives of advocacy, the sequence of stages of the advocacy campaign, the importance of a systematic approach to advocacy, Information provision, enlightenment and propaganda, Public Relations (PR), Community - level advocacy, Community mobilization, Social partnership; The problem formulation on advocacy campaign, collection and analysis of information session: the concept of the issue and the problem, the selection of the issue and formulation of the problem, the selection criteria of the problem for advocacy campaign, methods of the information collection for the advocacy campaign, the main strategy of advocacy, the concept of the strategy and tactics, the effective strategies and tactics during the advocacy campaign, Advocacy through legislation, Advocacy through courts, Advocacy through supporting the expansion, Advocacy through media; Strategic planning, definition of strategy - tactical considerations session: Purpose: the short-term purpose, the long-term purpose, Strategy, Connection of the strategy with the purpose, Result-oriented strategy, Tactics and tactical considerations, Risk identification and mitigation; The preparation of the message of the campaign session: the form of the message and delivery methods, Criteria of an effective message, Using brain-storming techniques”. During the training courses the staff used different training methods like interactive group discussions, debates, simulations, presentations, focus group discussions, role-playing games as well as watching to the different social videos related to the topics throughout the entire session. In the end of the training courses the participants and the staff gave their views on the project and thanked to the guests including the donor – the US Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for implementing such kind of useful project for the regional youth.