Monday, April 20, 2015

The second national course of the Albanian School of Political Studies programme took place in Gjirokaster from 17-19 April 2015. The course was composed of two sessions, each following a specific aim and methodology. The first module, “Leadership for Leaders”, was conducted by Ms. Ina Gjikondi, from “George Washington” University, USA, and was designed as a comprehensive leadership exercise with the aim of developing new conceptual foundations on effective democratic leadership and change. Participants were able to work on improving the necessary skills for managing change processes through interactive problem-solving exercises targeting individual and team strengths, leadership profiles, effective team building etc. The module methodology was created on the basis of the training sessions certification of the GWU in USA. The second part of the course consisted in presentations and exercises on communication techniques and PR technologies used in political and public engagement campaigns etc. Mr Alban Bala, PR practitioner, Founder of the Albanian Institute of Public of Relations, started with an presentation of tool of communication and used also as a case study the public engagement on the dismantle of Syrian chemical arsenal  in Albania. 
The third module, was conducted as an open discussion with Mr. Mark Marku, lecturer at the University of Tirana, about the “Political elites and the system of career in political parties”. As a former Member of Parliament, Mr. Marku shared with the participants the personal experience of engagement from scholars to the politics and the lack of system of career in the political parties in Albania.
The course was an additional opportunity for the participants to visit the touristic town of Gjirokastra, part of the UNESCO world heritage list.