CIPE Holds Youth Advocacy Seminar Forum at Ukrainian University
Among CIPE’s key areas of concern, the youth hold a special place, as they are generally acknowledged as source of innovation, fresh ideas and, broadly speaking, a better future for any society.
CIPE recently held a 4-day seminar on advocacy for law students at Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Ukraine, one of the country’s leading higher education institutions. Fourty students were introduced to the principles of democracy, market economics and democratic institutions before the seminar, through a set of materials that were meant to serve as a starting point for seminar discussions. These topics made for the first module on the seminar agenda; additional modules included advocacy and communications.

CIPE Regional Office Program Director Camelia Bulat introduced the audience to the various types of presentations, the basic principles of communication, as well as a number of rules for effective communication. The module on communication strategy also included some practical tips concerning what should be done and what should be avoided in order to be effective when delivering a presentation. In addition, a number of barriers to successful communication were tackled, along with the ways to remove them. Last but not least, the participants received information on writing a good press release.
The advocacy module referred to issues such as the definition and purpose of advocacy, the scope of advocacy activities, the difference between advocacy activities and lobbying activities, as well as the steps of a proper advocacy process (i.e., identifying an issue, analyzing the stakeholders, creating coalitions, gathering grassroots support, etc.) and practical advice on the ways of tackling the various aspects of advocacy activities.
To complement the two accounts, Institute for Competitive Society Vice-President Dmitry Lyapin also shared his experience with advocacy activities and emphasized the achievements of Ukrainian SME advocacy coalitions.
Another special feature of the seminar was the actual exercise that the students were asked to prepare on the last day of the seminar – a strategic plan for an advocacy campaign. The students worked in groups on topics or issues relevant to their lives and then presented a plan which was based on the advocacy process discussed during the first three days of the seminar.
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