In the context of supporting the national efforts in Jordan, KAS- Jordan Office and Al-Quds Center for Political Studies have launched an Academy for Youth in Political Parties. This project is designed following the recent outcomes of the royal initiative to modernize the political system and stretches over two batches in which each is a series of three thematic workshops; (a) Civil and Political Rights, (b) Democratic Standards within Political parties and (c) Media and Political Communication. The three workshops took place over the weekend during the month of May to June 2022.
“Civil and Political Rights” workshop was the first thematic area which the trainees explored as they were distributed over two parallel groups. The first sub-group – trained by the prominent legal expert Dr. Saddam Abu Azzam- was focused on constitution, related legislations and international conventions that regulate the political process in Jordan (i.e. electoral law, political parties law, cyber-crime law and penal code). The second sub-group was joined by two political leaders who gave a sense of inspiration when talked about their journey, success stories and shared lessons learnt with the participants. The speakers also touched upon key topics related to democracy, the inclusive identity and the rule of law.
During the second workshop “Promoting Democratic Standards within Political Parties” which was joined by the regional trainer Mr. Ahmad Al-Hamoudi from Tunis, trainees were invited to review the internal system of their own political parties and digest its strength points and areas of development, aiming to make suggestions which trainees submit to their party’s leadership in order to improve their own parties’ internal democracy.
The last workshop was inaugurated by KAS resident representative Dr. Edumnd Ratka who shared with us the German experience pertaining to civic education and youth participation in political and party work. The thematic area was centered on “Media and Political Communication” skills, as the participants were guided through the techniques of formulating the party's mission and ways to communicate it to the citizens in the most concise and precise manner. Media and communication specialists gave training to participants on the techniques of producing short videos when addressing their audience on social media.
Upon the completion of the first batch, the advanced training workshop targeted around 50 young members from 22 political party who came together from 7 governorates and were provided with an inclusive platform to promote inter-party dialogue and contribute to the democratic governance in Jordan at which youth is at the core of it.