Once again, a Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence employee has received an opportunity to take part in the TRAIN programme of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). This year, our program coordinator, Bogdan Urošević, was one of the twelve participants chosen to attend the three-part seminar.
With the aim of fostering policy dialogue between think tanks and political actors in the Western Balkans, the TRAIN programme (Think Tanks Providing Research and Advice through Interaction and Networking) offers organizations from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia training and networking opportunities. Its aim is to support civil society and to strengthen the national and European policy dialogue with regard to topics relevant for the respective country’s EU integration process.
During the second seminar held in Berlin, the participants had the opportunity to come into contact with civil servants and research assistants at the Bundestag, as well as to attend meetings with a few important decision-makers, two of those being Heike Baddenhaus, Head of Secretariat of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union at the Bundestag, and Katharina Ahrendts, Deputy Head of the Western Balkans Division at the German Federal Foreign Office. In addition, the participants had an opportunity to attend workshops with the aim to develop communication and dissemination strategies for their policy papers, as well as to take part in an event focused on the reactions and comments on the British EU referendum within the international community.
In the course of the next seminar which is to be held in Brussels, the participants will gain a chance to present their policy paper, advocacy strategies and research projects to the decision-makers.
The TRAIN programme is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe) and run by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
