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Americans for Artsakh Bring Negotiation and Government Public Relations Skills to Karabakh with the Help of AGBU
| Date: |
9/11/2009 |
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| Contact: |
AGBU Press Office |
| Phone: |
212-319-6383 |
| Fax: |
212-319-6507 |
| Email: |
press@agbu.org |
In August, Americans for Artsakh (AFA) completed its third project in a series of ongoing training programs for Karabakh government officials. With each course increasing in complexity, the most recent project focused on two areas of crucial importance to the nascent state in this delicate period of its development--negotiations and government public relations.
The diplomacy course was conducted at the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Participants included twelve staff members from the Ministry, two from the Office of the President, two from the National Assembly, and two from the Karabakh Information Office. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) funded AFA for this training program. In addition, special assistance was provided by Karen Kostandyan, Second Secretary of Multilateral Cooperation at the Ministry and AFA's Karabakh Coordinator.
The first portion of the course, called "Negotiations: Basic Concepts and Tactics," was led by AFA Executive Director Sarah Ludwig. Ludwig holds a certificate in conducting capacity-building programs in post-conflict regions from the US Institute of Peace (USIP). The students were introduced to basic concepts used in international negotiations, and were then given exercises that used the theories and ideologies in hypothetical conflict scenarios. Class exercises included activities involving highly political topics: tribal relations in Afghanistan, civic participation in Romania, media freedom in Vietnam, and six-party talks in North Korea. Students were given background material prior to the course in order to familiarize themselves with the topics beforehand.
Several of the students acknowledged that such complex and sensitive foreign subjects were at first difficult to conceptualize. Most students had limited prior exposure to the geographical areas and political situations presented in the "mock scenarios," providing a great challenge in the beginning. However, as the course progressed, students became increasingly able to find parallels between the classroom scenarios and situations in their own lives. In one of the activities--an examination of six-party talks on North Korea--students were split into groups and asked to present an analysis of one of the parties involved, followed by a question-and-answer session with the group as a whole. "The class activities were very useful and interesting," commented Armen Sargsyan, Third Secretary of Bilateral Relations at the Ministry. "They helped us learn a lot of new, different places." Marina Harutyunyan, Attaché at the Ministry's Information Department, agreed, "We very much need these courses for our future work. We need to be prepared to face our counterparts [from other countries]. The classes were very helpful in this."
The second portion of the course was comprised of lectures and exercises on the topic of developing the government's relationships with outside parties and individuals. Dr. Paul Dezendorf, a faculty member at Western Carolina in North Carolina, led the series of workshops. His lectures were based on classes he offers in the United States. He will also be offering the same tutorials during his Fulbright Scholar appointment at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow this coming fall. Dr. Dezendorf's opening lectures aided students in understanding the eight categories of communications that governments typically use in building relationships with their external audiences, such as press relations and encouraging compliance with the law. He focused on several areas that are particularly relevant to the Karabakh situation, including public diplomacy, dealing with the media, creating a "brand" image for the country, and increasing tourism prospects.
Students also discussed areas of life in Karabakh that require improvement. These include creating and refining media sources, expanding upon the government's ability to relate to the media, enlarging potential tourist mechanisms, and the utilization of social networking. Upon completion of the course, several of the students chose to form a working group with the professor and agreed upon a series of initiatives to work on and address during the next set of courses, scheduled for spring 2010. Dr. Dezendorf has taken an active interest in Karabakh, and he plans to correspond regularly with the students in order to aid them in the fulfillment of their goals.
In addition, Dr. Dezendorf met with the Office of Tourism to discuss collaborative research for the Office in developing "brand identity" for Karabakh. His assistance will be based on former successful models for marketing countries following a major crisis, such as Slovenia. Ensuing projects will focus on improving the understanding of how existing and potential audiences view Karabakh, and converting that understanding into marketing ideas for the Office. Dr. Dezendorf observed that Karabakh faces problems not unlike those faced by countries in many other areas of the world. As he commented during his visit, "[Karabakh] has a great deal of natural beauty, an energetic population, and a focused and distinctive culture. These are substantial assets that will be of great benefit in marketing the country."
AFA plans to contribute with its government training courses on a regular basis. The organization also offers courses in, among other fields, law, public administration, and management.
Americans for Artsakh is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization established to preserve freedom, strengthen democracy, foster economic development, protect the cultural identity and promote the heritage of the people of Artsakh.
Established in 1906, AGBU (www.agbu.org) is the world's largest non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.
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