“Better prepared to bring the change” 24 young people have attended the fifth edition of the Summer School “Applied Democracy”
24 young people participated in the 2021 Summer School "Applied Democracy", organized between August 16 - 21 by the Legal Resources Center of Moldova (LRCM) in partnership with Expert-Forum Romania (EFOR). The participants deepened their knowledge about democracy, learned about critical thinking and how to be civically engaged in order to bring positive changes in their society.
"The summer school took place at a high level with well-prepared trainers, well-organized programs, as well as the chance to learn from personalities with extensive experience in the field - it was a success. I express my gratitude for the fact that you contributed to my personal development", confessed Victor DANILĂ, one of the participants of the 2021 Summer School.
All this energy would not have been possible without the dedication and involvement of the experts, who assured an interesting and useful content compound with an interactive and participative way of presentation.
During the first day, Nadejda HRIPTIEVSCHI, Program Director at LRCM and Sorin IONIȚĂ, President of EFOR remarked the importance of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the development of a state and welcomed the interest of students to become promoters of democracy. The organizers offered the opportunity for participants to get to know each other better through creative and interactive exercises moderated by Mariana ȚURCAN, Director of the Association for Creative Development. The Summer School continued with an introductory session dedicated to the basic concepts of democracy, the rule of law and human rights, led by Nadejda HRIPTIEVSCHI and the President of the LRCM, Vladislav GRIBINCEA. The first day ended with a practical session on how to build an advocacy campaign, led by Septimius PÂRVU from EFOR, which built on the capacity of participants and empowered people to organizing advocacy campaigns.
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The next day, Sorin IONIȚĂ and Septimius PÂRVU spoke about the importance of elections, clientelism, the financing of political parties and electoral campaigns and the state of affairs in the Republic of Moldova and Romania. Sorina MACRINICI, Program Director at LRCM, moderated a session on the role of civil society and civic activism, where Diana GROSU from LEX XXI Association, Veaceslav TOFAN from Amnesty International Moldova, Cristina SÎRBU from Primăria MEA and Rodion GAVRILOI, civic activist, shared their experience about involvement and their contribution to the change in the Republic of Moldova.
The third day began with a session dedicated to the independence of the judiciary in the Republic of Moldova, moderated by Nadejda HRIPTIEVSCHI, where we had as guests Raisa BOTEZATU, resigning judge from the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), Viorica PUICĂ and Livia Răilean, judges at the Center District Court. Participants had the chance to interact directly with the guests who shared their vision and experience on how to ensure the independence of the judiciary and the individual role of the judge. Another session was dedicated to the activity of the European Court of Human Rights led by the legal adviser of the LRCM, Daniel GOINIC and the president of the LRCM, Vladislav GRIBINCEA. The quiz organized at the end of the session offered participants the opportunity to test their knowledge, but also to win prizes. The day ended with a session on investigative journalism and its role in combating and preventing corruption, led by TV8 journalist and founder Mariana RAȚĂ. By presenting real cases and her own example, also byher open attitude, Mariana RAȚĂ managed to raise participants' interest towards investigative journalism.
During the fourth day, the participants got acquainted with the mechanisms of misinformation in a captivating session moderated by Sorin IONIȚĂ, the president of EFOR. He brought on the table examples of fake news, explained what propaganda and trolls mean. Discussions on tools for preventing and combating corruption followed in a session moderated by Laura ȘTEFAN, anti-corruption expert and Vladislav GRIBINCEA, who explained what corruption means, but also came up with practical examples concerning the situation in the Republic of Moldova. Ilie CHIRTOACĂ, legal advisor to the LRCM, brought the the participants' attention an informative presentations and practical exercises dedicated to transparency in the decision-making process and access to information of public interest.
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The fifth day was dedicated to the current challenges when in comes to respect of human rights. Romanița IORDACHE, a researcher in the field of human rights, with huge expertize in equality and non-discrimination, and Nadejda HRIPTIEVCHI led a session dedicated to equality, hate speech and the limits of freedom of expression, challenging participants to analyze the impact of stereotypes and prejudices, what the hate speech means and how it can be avoided. Ilie CHIRTOACĂ continued with a session on the Internet and human rights. Elena TACU from Ecovisio ended the day with a session dedicated to environmental protection and priorities from the field, she managed to provide a clear picture of how everyone can contribute to protecting the environment and motivate people to prioritize the environment in their daily activity.
The last day included a session led by Mariana ȚURCAN, about how we become more convincing when writing a CV or a motivation letter. The IT expert, Maxim CATANOI, continued with a very useful session on how to secure data in such a digital age. Finally, the organizers of the Summer School offered the participants certificates of participation and encouraged them to promote the values of democracy and human rights in their daily life.
"The main purpose of the Summer Schools, which became a tradition for us for the last five years, is to explain the basic concepts and current challenges related to democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and, mainly, to inspire participants to join and promote democratic values in their professional and personal activity. We are happy when we see young men and women enthusiastic about the topics presented and ready to get involved in various activities to bring contribute for a better change ”, said Nadejda HRIPTIEVSCHI, program director at the LRCM.
The experience and impressions of the participants of the 2021 Summer School "Applied Democracy" were compiled in a short video.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcxf_z-4mkw&feature=emb_title[/embed]
The event was organized within the project "Institutional support for organizational development" implemented by LRCM and funded by Sweden.