The third training day of the third course of the National Program for Class 2022 began with a lecture on demographic trends in Bulgaria and possible policies to improve the situation. The demography expert Assoc. Dr. Alexey Pamporov introduced the trainees to the general average life expectancy in our country last year, made a comparison to previous years and drew conclusions. According to this indicator, he also compared Bulgaria with the other countries in Europe and focused on population growth, general and child mortality in Bulgaria. After the presentation, Dr. Pamporov summarized the demographic problems of our country and indicated possible public policies to deal with the challenges. These include: increasing services for the elderly; priority promotion of economic investments, entrepreneurship and educational services in demographically threatened regions; prevention of early marriages and early births through full coverage and retention of children in school; early civic and health education, etc.
Social measures and policies in the conditions of the current crises were discussed in the following educational panel by the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy Julieta Varlyakova and Ivan Neykov – Chairman of the Balkan Institute of Labor and Social Policy and former Minister of Labor and Social Policy in two governments. Mrs. Varlyakova gave detailed information about the currently active measures in the social sphere, and Ivan Neykov explained to the trainees the specifics of the social sphere and the challenges faced by those creating and implementing social measures and policies.
Before the lunch break, the participants in the National Program listened to a lecture and led a discussion on the topic “National Security and the Role of the Security and Public Order Services”. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Mirchev, an expert on intelligence and terrorism, introduced the trainees to the basic concepts of security theory, the forms and levels of security and the main elements of national security. His presentation was followed by a lively discussion with many questions from the trainees.
The second half of the third training day was dedicated to political campaigns and the final of the module exercise.
The lecturer at Sofia University, MP in the 42nd National Assembly and head of many pre-election political campaigns, Associate Professor Tatiana Burudzhieva introduced the trainees to the importance of the pre-election campaign. She also focused on the purpose, reference groups and communication strategy of an election campaign, and then gave guidelines for the practical task. Divided into four small groups, each representing a political party, the trainees had to formulate messages and develop a campaign aimed at specific target groups. After an hour of work, they presented their results and received feedback from Prof. Burudzhieva.
The end of the working day was also the time for the final of the module exercise, which began at the beginning of the third course. According to the case study, the groups had to assume the role of a political party and, through discussion and negotiation, try to form a coalition government among themselves. After a lot of emotions and allocation of free for them time as well, the third-course trainees from the National Program congratulated themselves on the successful formation of a coalition government and introduced the ministers.