More than ever, the unstable and uncertain times call for effective and trustworthy communication from governments and institutions. They are under enormous pressure to introduce and communicate policy initiatives under extraordinary circumstances while simultaneously competing with the flooding of misinformation and disinformation. Digital capabilities and strategic thinking have undoubtedly become the core of governments’ communications and public affairs operations.
Once again, European Digital Diplomacy Exchange will gather government communicators for a 4-day training, where they will be polishing their digital communication competencies. Participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Czechia, Estonia, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine will join us in Portorož from 21 to 24 March.
The theme of this training will be “Turning Practice into Strategy, Structures, and Systems.” With the focus on returning participants, we will be shifting our attention to how participants can translate the skills they have developed during previous workshops into policies, protocols, and procedures that will foster institutional systems that better enable digital strategic communications practices. Participants will learn from experts in this field and participate in practical exercises that will provide tangible, workable solutions to their home ministries.
‘Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in The Tempest?‘ was the main title of the 2023 Raisina Dialogue, the leading geopolitical and geoeconomic conference in India and the South Asian Region, held in New Delhi (India) between 2 and 4 March 2023.
The Bled Strategic Forum organising team from the Centre for European Perspective and Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs was there listening to engaging discussions, meeting new international partners and colleagues, and experiencing how it is to attend the conference rather than organise it, thus also learning what could be done to improve BSF. Additionally, BSFco-hosted a discussion on the reforms needed for our multilateral system. In its endeavour to become a yearly platform for addressing main contemporary challenges, BSF works with like-minded international partners. Both conferences share its mission of creating open spaces for discussion and action on salient and most pressing challenges within our societies. The participation of the BSF team in the activities of the Raisina Dialogue represents a valued partnership and continuation of cooperation, knowledge exchange and joint activities organisation.
On March 4th 2023, the Raisina Dialogue held a panel discussion in partnership with the Bled Strategic Forum under the title ‘Peace in Pieces: New Pathways for a UN that works‘, focusing on reforms within the international community that have an opportunity to give new momentum to the multilateral systems of today and tomorrow. The following speakers participated in the discussion:
E. Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Armenia)
E. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Information (Ghana)
E. Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs (Slovenia)
E. Ivan Korčok, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs (Slovak Republic)
E. Lakshmi Puri, Former Assistant Secretary-General to United Nations and Former Ambassador (India).
The panel discussion was moderated by Mr Peter Grk, Secretary-General of the Bled Strategic Forum.
As stated by H.E. Ivan Korčok in reference to the discussion title: “all pieces are in place, but still, the war is happening. /…/ One piece is missing, namely responsible behaviour which respects the very rules (that create or represent a foundation of the international system)”. H. E. Tanja Fajon outlined that we (societies) are today more connected than ever before but, at the same time, more fragmented than ever. H.E. presented the continuous efforts of the Republic of Slovenia in the process of candidacy for non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council. Slovenia strongly supports multilateralism and, as a small country in the international community, understands the importance of being an honest broker, being capable of listening and building bridges. H.E. called upon the shared responsibility of politicians, business (wo)men, civil society, academia (and other stakeholders) to work together, to have a full picture of activities around the world and try to address all these big global challenges. The latter are not challenges of one small country or one big continent but are global challenges for all of us.
Raisina Dialogue, hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs of India, is an international forum of cross-sectorial cooperation that connects representatives of global initiatives, decision-makers, academia, private sector and business, non-governmental organisations and civil society, young leaders and all interested stakeholders. The dynamic conference is interwoven with additional events, discussions and conferences, with a high degree of support for young people in the form of the Raisina Young Fellows programme. The challenges creating a tempest and disruption within the international community, with challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and breaches of international law, have inspired the theme of the conference edition, focusing on cooperation, creativity and joint approach, powering lighthouses that identify and lead opportunities within our societies.
The Raisina Dialogue, through its comprehensive and progressive thematical focus, inclusive partnership and delegate participation (connecting representatives from all parts of the globe), and dynamically engaging cooperation formats, facilitated a unique generator for discussion, networking and shared work that recognises and supports each individual or organisation to be a beacon of progress at the local, national and international level.
The Bled Strategic Forum team returns to Slovenia with newly established networks, partnerships and good practices that will be invested in the preparation of the upcoming 18th edition of the BSF and 12th edition of the Young BSF.
For the first time, government communicators from Bulgaria are attending the European Digital Diplomacy Exchange (EDDE) digital strategic communication training, which will take place next week, from the 30th to the 31st of January 2023, in Sofia. The event will bring together communicators from various ministries, agencies, and other state institutions.
The main focus of this in-country training is the conceptualization, development and implementation of digital strategic communication practices and campaigns identified as necessary together with the Diplomatic Institute to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Besides that, individual consultations will be offered to the participants in the following days to discuss specific communication items.
Since 2017 CEP and the U.S. Department of State have been conducting a digital diplomacy project titled European Digital Diplomacy Exchange (EDDE), an intergovernmental network of government communicators committed to increasing members’ collective capacities to operate within the digital information space more effectively. A fundamental offering of this network is hands-on government-to-government digital strategic communications guidance, training, and mentorship.
The traditional end-of-the-year video of EUCTI Training Highlights is here!
Since the beginning of the project back in 2021, the EUCTI Consortium, led by the EUCTI Secretariat located at the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), implemented 16 training courses and two activities focusing on training institutions from third countries. Eight project partners implemented training activities in seven countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Kosovo, Mali, Niger, Somalia, and Ukraine.
The partners and subject matter experts who helped deliver the training invested 374 hours into training altogether 311 participants from 41 different countries. The gender balance of our participants improved in 2022 compared to 2021. Last year the EUCTI Consortium was able to train 127 women (41 %) and 182 men (59 %) (among those who identified as such).
Check out the video below to learn more!
CEP Activities within the Consortium
During the past two years, CEP delivered five training courses: two two-part Digital Communications training courses, one in Kosovo and one in Georgia, and one Protection of Civilians training adjusted to the needs of the staff of the EU Advisory Mission in Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine). Those five courses were attended by 81 participants altogether, who followed 91 hours of training.
With one year until the end of the project left, the Consortium is well on its way to reaching the set goals, among them to deliver up to 27 training courses and three activities focusing on training institutions from third countries.
CEP is happy to inform the readers that we will be able to contribute to reaching this goal in 2023 as well.
The third workshop for the Working Group in charge of communication in the negotiation process on the content of Chapter 24 was held in Strumica, North Macedonia, from 13-15 December. During the workshops, the members of the group, coming from the Ministry of the Interior, the Financial Police, the Customs Administration, the Ministry of Justice, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the National Security Agency, continued to strengthen their communication capacities both in the area of content and in the area of communication skills and techniques.
After years of waiting, North Macedonia finally started its EU membership negotiations this summer. The first reviews of alignment with the EU acquis have already started, so adequate and good communication of the Working Group with all stakeholders and in all directions is of utmost importance. Practical exercises and experiences from other countries are particularly welcome.
The participants of the workshops in Strumica received training in communication on the fight against organised crime (financial investigations, money laundering), migration (legal and illegal migration, readmission), and border management through interactive exercises and based on current messages from the latest EC Progress Report on North Macedonia. The exercises were conducted in two directions: on the one hand, training in understanding or interpreting the messages and information provided by the EC in the Progress Report, and on the other hand, training in information transfer or reporting back to the EC team members on the achievements and work carried out by North Macedonia.
The workshops also gave participants the opportunity to learn about the experience of communication in the negotiation process with colleagues from Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. They were very grateful for guidance on their good practices and advice on how to avoid bad ones.
The practical exercises also offered the participants training to improve their oral and written communication skills and techniques, both with domestic and foreign audiences.
These were the last workshops of the project Communication in Negotiation Chapter 24, which is implemented with Slovenian international development assistance from January 1, 2021, and ends on 31 December, 2022. The members of the Working Group in charge of communication in the negotiation process on the content of Chapter 24 confirmed that their communication capacities have been greatly strengthened and that they have made significant progress in this area. They expressed their deep appreciation for the knowledge, guidance, and training they have received and considered it extremely useful for the work they are doing and the work that lies ahead of them on the road to the EU.
The project is part of the activities of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation Programme, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
The project is partially financed by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in the scope of the program activities of international development cooperation.
