Participants of the fifteenth Learn, Think and Act! training for young leaders took the restrictive measures caused by the pandemic in stride and continued to learn together.
An interactive approach and innovative tools paired with the participants’ unwavering focus and willingness to participate in all three days of the module were the perfect combination for learning about public advocacy and lobbying.
A good advocate must be familiar with the system of the government they’re targeting and must have the specific skill set and techniques that make advocacy efforts successful. Theory is of little use if it can’t be applied in practice, so the participants created their own advocacy campaigns identifying problems and defining and designing solutions.
“To me, public advocacy and lobbying always seemed like something that’s difficult to understand and apply. However, this module presented public advocacy and lobbying simply and clearly thanks to the trainer’s approach the useful videos she played for us, and group work. My faculty is currently teaching courses online, but unfortunately, their approach doesn’t involve interactive methods and practical work, so this module was very refreshing and such a nice change of pace.
The Institute for Youth Development KULT regularly organizes Coffee Time With… events – opportunities for young people to meet inspirational and successful individuals who share their experience, ideas, and worldviews with youth. In this module, our guest was Ms Nejra Neimarlija Roić, who spoke to the participants about her participation in the advocacy initiative to supplement and amend the Law on Value Added Tax, which started in 2016 and remains relevant.
“This advocacy initiative is aimed at supplementing and amending the Law on VAT to introduce the cash accounting VAT scheme allowing businesses to record VAT on the basis of payments made or received. It’s a good example of an advocacy initiative that can show youth the entire advocacy process. Young people learned about the entire process in practice, from planning the advocacy activity to the actual advocacy efforts and the responsibility of advocates”, says Nejra.
The fifth module of UMiD 15 was held between May 28 and 30, 2020 on Zoom.
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