This Saturday marked the ending of our first Political Action Training (PAT), and we awarded the cerficates to our participants at the Belgrade Art Hotel. PAT is organized for high-school seniors and college freshmen and is one of Libek’s major new programs. It is an advancement of our Politics for Individual program, which is a two-day seminar organized for high-school students.
This training was designed to provide our participants with a basic understanding of the ideas of individualism and the principles of justice, elementary economic postulates, as well as an insight into political philosophy. Additionally, participants had a chance to gain basic skills in the fields of analitics, communication, and advocacy.
Training sessions were organized on Saturdays and Sundays. On their first day, participants were introduced to the fundamentals of libertarianism, as well as the most significant approaches to matters of justice and just outcomes. This class was conducted by Lav Kozakijevic, a political scientist, and the central topic was “On Liberty.” After that, Nikola Parun, a political scientist and a communications expert, taught a class called “Economics in One Lesson”, during which he talked about elementary economic principles. ESFL’s program director, Aleksandar Kokotović, presented the participants with theories of government and various understandings of powers of the state. During the second day, there was a “round table” where participants, with the lecturers’ assistance, discussed relevant social and economic topics, such as discriminatory policies, regulations, public finance, and the range of individual liberty.
After these classes, participants were divided into three groups, based on their personal preferences: Analytics Team, Advocacy Team, and Communications Team. During the remaining days, they worked with experienced coaches in mastering these skills.
The Advocacy Team was coached by Milos Nikolic, the president of Libek, Petar Cekerevac, Libek’s executive director, and Ivan Kutlarovic, a mamber of our alumni community. Mihailo Gajic, the program director of Libek’s economic research department, and Nikola Jovic, our senior fellow, worked with the Analytical Team. Finally, the Communications Team was in the hands of Nikola Parun and Relja Dereta, a public speaking coach.
After having worked in teams, at our last session, participants presented project solutions for their designated tasks, using obtained skills in strategic planning, analytics and communications.