Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - SOUTH CAUCASUS Initiative for а network of liberal youth organizations in Southern Caucasus [printable version]
SOUTH CAUCASUS Initiative for а network of liberal youth organizations in Southern Caucasus
At this year meeting of liberal youth organizations´ representatives from the Southern Caucasus with an expert team of the German Young Liberals in the Georgian mountain resort Bakuriani the idea of a liberal youth organizations network in the Caucasus was born. Regardless of the recent conflicts in the region, Azeris, Armenians as well as Georgians and Abkhazians expressed their will to join the network.
Participants at the International Workshop in Nabran
At this year meeting of liberal youth organizations´ representatives from the Southern Caucasus with an expert team of the German Young Liberals in the Georgian mountain resort Bakuriani the idea of a liberal youth organizations network in the Caucasus was born. Regardless of the recent conflicts in the region, Azeris, Armenians as well as Georgians and Abkhazians expressed their will to join the network. This could be the first step for a future-orientated platform for the stabilization of liberal politics in the region. Another focus of the workshop in Bakuriani was working on the programmes of the youth organizations after an analysis of their respective strengths and weaknesses.
The meeting in Bakuriani was a part of educational workshops co-organized between 14 and 22 July 2008 by the Southern Caucasus Project of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) and the Federal Association of Young Liberals. This year the workshop series focussed on the campaign management, the content development as part of the program development and especially on the intensification of co-operation between the different liberal youth organizations in the three countries.
The workshop series began in Azerbaijan with a workshop on the campaign management for youth representatives from Azerbaijan, Georgia and the not recognized territory Abkhazia in Nabran at the Caspian Sea. Besides lectures about leadership of volunteers´ teams, some campaigns about the consolidation of youth interests were also presented. The participants were able to apply and broaden the acquired knowledge in practical exercises on campaign management.
After the end of the workshops in Azerbaijan and Georgia the Vice-president of IFLRY, Frederik Ferié, and the Chairman of the regional organization of the Youth Liberals in Hessen, Lasse Becker, visited also Armenia, in order to participate in the first FNF workshop, organized after cracking down on the peaceful protests of the liberal opposition from 1 March this year. In the two-days meeting in Yerevan on 21 and 22 July different forms of international co-operation were presented and discussed. The participants debated also on the human rights situation in Armenia and the reaction of the European Union to the current events in their country. In the first evening of their stay in Armenia the German guests visited the continous solemn vigil of the opposition in the city centre of Yerevan, together with their Armenian partners.
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