The training course “Culture of Democracy” took place from 28.09.2015 to 07.10.2015 in Vadul lui Vodă, Moldova. It gathered 24 youth workers from 6 countries, including Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania and Denmark, to discuss the problems of democratic society and to find better methods to promote democracy. Armenia was represented by Nina Hayrapetyan, Lena Matevosyan, Minas Minasyan and Narek Mirzoyan. It is a pleasure to note that the project was organised in cooperation with the hosting organisations: InterCollege and The Danish United Nations Association and partner organisations from 5 different countries. Armenian sending organisation was Future in Our Hands.
Most activities were held in Vadul lui Vodă, not far from the capital city Chisinau. The project included a visit to Chisinau and a meeting with a local NGO at Moldova State University.
The activities were consisted mainly of debates, discussions and group work, getting to know Democracy and its concepts better and more profoundly. It appears that even though we speak about the same form of governance, Democracy is still different in every country, adopting the traditions and characteristics of the nation.
Role plays proved to be real success, developing the participants’ ability to negotiate. The mini Model UN, organized in the frameworks of the project, taught us the tools for better understanding of international politics and was an important school for us to get to know the United Nations more thoroughly. This is how many of the participants improved their negotiation skills and the others discovered themselves as successful diplomats.
Having noted this all, it must not be forgotten that the main objective of the training course was to assure that WE are change makers. The citizens should not only vote, but also be participants of every single event, concerning their countries and environment. This is to say that active citizenship is the best way to achieve the changes we wish. We should strive for the best, starting from our small groups. We should invest our skills, knowledge and work for a brighter future to come.
Now our training course is over. We are home, full of hopes and new great ideas. But “Culture of Democracy” is not over, it is to go on as long as we are ready to invest our time and knowledge for the well being of our countries and for building a strong community of sense and will to flourish.
