CIPE Regional Office Hosts ToT Seminar in Bucharest

The training-of-trainers project “Balkan and Caucasus Regional Project: Building Local Expertise in Association and Chamber Management” aims to strengthen business associations in the Balkans and Caucasus by developing a permanent network of trainers, facilitators, and consultants for the region. More specifically, in the context of this project, CIPE Regional Office’s purpose is to provide the participants with skills for assisting local organizations with effective advocacy, strategic planning, membership and successful communication with government and public authorities.

The project is designed to include three phases: (1) online training; (2) a seminar in Bucharest, Romania; (3) local seminars in the participants’ countries.

CIPE’s Regional Office hosted a seminar in Bucharest (May 3-5, 2010), whose purpose was to build additional skills and to complement the knowledge provided in the first phase of the project. 

This first phase consisted of an online training program that acquainted the participants with seven aspects of business association and chamber of commerce management: the role of business associations and chambers of commerce; strategic planning; structure and governance; designing marketing programs and services; membership development; advocacy; communication and public relations. During the online training phase, which ended in March, the participants were exposed to various resources on those topics (case studies, presentations, articles, etc.) and regularly submitted assignments, on which they have constantly received feedback.

Fourteen representatives of business support organizations from Moldova, Serbia, Armenia and Azerbaijan participated in the Bucharest seminar, which has emphasized the more practical aspects of any training or facilitation session: verbal and written presentations skills, adult learning principles, how to deal with potential distractions, etc. The training was facilitated by Camelia Bulat, CIPE Regional Office Program Director, and Carmen Stanila, CIPE Regional Office Deputy Director. 

The seminar has also featured two guest speakers, Cornelia Rotaru, President of the Association for the Development of Business Women, and Despina Pascal, CIPE Consultant. Two of the most resounding success stories that CIPE Regional Office has contributed to were presented to the participants: Ms. Rotaru spoke about the creation of the Romanian Coalition of Business Women’s Associations (which has recently been evaluated as one of CIPE’s most significant projects in the Balkan and Caucasus regions in the past ten years) and the Open Doors advocacy campaign (Ms. Pascal).

The participants have had the opportunity to practice these newly-acquired abilities by engaging in a variety of practical exercises, such as workshop plans, various types of presentations (motivational, political, etc.) and other exercises. Throughout these practical exercises, the participants have received feedback from the trainers and their peers. Each participant was asked to design and present a plan for organizing their own workshop on one of the seven topics that have been discussed in phase 1 of the program.

The interactive nature of the seminar has facilitated networking and the exchange of ideas and experience between the participants.

The Bucharest seminar will be followed by a series of four seminars which will be hosted in each of the four countries that have been represented at this seminar. During these seminars, the ToT program participants will have the opportunity to act as trainers and facilitators, and the audience will include peers from local associations In other words, the local seminars will provide the context in which the 14 trainees will actually become trainers.

The purpose of this intensive training program is to equip executives from business associations, chambers of commerce and think tanks with the necessary knowledge and skills to consolidate the development of membership-based organizations at the grassroots level in Moldova, Serbia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. 

 

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