Political Academy 2019

What are the basic values of social democracy? And how can we translate freedom, equality, solidarity and justice into everyday politics? During a nine-day training from 28.06. to 6.07. young activists had the chance to learn and discuss the principles of social democracy in FES 2019’s Political Academy in Kosovo with different lecturers and representatives from political parties. The training set off with a lecture on social democracy before diving into the connection of social democracy to the economic sphere. The participants analyzed different economic models, worked on the strength and weaknesses of the economic model and trained their negotiation skills in the roles of the government, trade unions and private sector representatives.

The third part of the Political Academy trained the participants on political campaigning. From clearly defining the problem in order to formulate a solution, thinking about target groups, identifying support structures and opponents and creating an adequate time frame – everybody learned a lot about the ingredients to a good and effective political campaign! Further, the EU integration process of Kosovo and the regional security context were discussed and influences from external actors in Kosovo and the Western Balkan region were examined. The Political Academy concluded with a theatre workshop using methods of the Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theater to question existing challenges in Kosovo.