MGERB’s Third Political Academy has begun

02/11/09

The first two modules of MGERB’s Third Political Academy took place in Pazardzhik from 29th of October to the 1st of November. The Academy was held in the Trakia Hotel in Pazardzhik with the kind cooperation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. There were over fifty members of MGERB from all over Bulgaria who took part in MGERB’s Third Political Academy. The participants were carefully selected after they wrote more then one essay and passed psychological tests.

A unique twist to MGERB’s Third Political Academy is the fact that the participants have the unique chance to exchange experience with the alumni of the First Political Academy, which took place in the end of 2008. During the two modules the participants took part in simulative sessions which further improved their communication abilities and forged a working team.

The Academy was officially opened by Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov - Chairman of GERB, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Miss Monika Panayotova – Chairwoman of MGERB and Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly and Mr. Ivan Ivanov – Regional Governor of Pazardzhik and Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly.

Mr. Tsvetan Tsvetanov stressed that he is part of the young and told the youth from the organisation that they should support each and work together while they are improving themselves. Only after this is achieved they can be part of the future governance of GERB. Mr. Tsvetanov also said that “It is very important that the people who are holding high positions remember where they started from and who they worked with to achieve this. It is very easy to say that this is due to the time consuming program, but people holding those positions must always find time to work with the organisation and not grow cold.” Monika Panayotova added to this and said that with this academy MGERB has over 200 trained members and mentioned the important role of the young – 45% of the voters who voted for GERB were between 18 and 30 years old. This only means that the apathy in the young can be diminished when it is invested in them. This can be clearly seen and proven when they don’t become observers in the democratic process, but participants.

Lectures during the first two modules of the Academy were Professor Rumen Stamatov – Vice Dean in the University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski”, Senior Lecturer Tsvetan Davidkov Ph. D – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration to the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. During the four days in Pazardzhik the participants worked on self improvement and further developed their ability to work in a team, as well as their management and leadership abilities. On the last day there was a game which focused the attention of the participants of the Third Political Academy on campaign management it was organised by the participants in the First Political Academy.

The training was concluded by Mr. Ivan Ivanov and by Mr. Dimitar Karpachev – Regional Coordinator of MGERB, Pazardzhik. The conclusion of their speech focused on the fact that it is very important that the work of the regional structures is synchronised. Mr. Ivanov wished luck to all of the participants and stressed out that he really counts on young people.

National Executive Council of MGERB ended the Academy in Pazardzhik with one though directed at all of the participants – “The target is a dream, which has a date for achievement”, our target is to be the alternative in the country and we have four years to achieve it!