Among other activities, NISPAcee continues delivering training services to its member institutions as well as the governments of the region. One of the most recent such training events was a 4 day training seminar for public policy advisors held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in June 2002. The seminar is a part of the long-term initiative funded by the UNDP RBEC Regional Support Centre in Bratislava and was organized in cooperation with Babes Bolay University Department of Public Administration.

The training course “How to be a better policy advisor” was prepared and conducted by the international team of trainers (Sorin Dan Sandor from Romania, Pobeda Loukanova from Bulgaria and Bolotbek Orokov from Kyrgyzstan) who focused on the provision of the relevant information and the development of the skills essential for a good advisor working with the various government institutions and officials in the post-Soviet region. The programme of the seminar attracted a wide range of participants starting with academic staff of the NISPAcee member institutions, to young professionals working for international organizations and national governments in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Romania, Moldova, and Georgia.

All participants, both academicians and professionals, have indicated that the course was extremely interesting to all involved. As one of the participants said “when you work as an advisor, you don’t have enough time to analyze what you do and why you do it. You simply focus on delivering a high quality product to your boss. This seminar has helped me to look at myself from the position of my colleagues in the audience and to understand why I do the things that I do while at work and how to do them better.”

One of the initiatives that was suggested by the participants of the seminar is a creation of the on-line network for the policy advisors, including all those involved in the development and delivery of this advisory capacities development project and providing a forum for exchange of ideas, experiences and advice among professionals. NISPAcee will also continue to organize similar seminars throughout the region. The following training course will be held in Odessa, Ukraine in co-operation with the Odessa Regional Institute of Public Administration, Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration, Office of the President of Ukraine with the support of the United Nations Development Programme.

Participants

Vasilika Kume, Albania

Bantscho Banov, Bulgaria

Ivana Djuric, Croatia

Elene Jibladze, Georgia

Khatuna Chitanava, Georgia

Nino Gerkeuli, Georgia

Leon Malazogu, Kosovo

Viorel Furdui, Moldava

Ovidiu Bujorean, Romania

Ilie Simona Florentina, Romania

Agata Neamtiu, Romania

Veronica Junjan, Romania