The President of the National Assembly, Assoc. Prof. Nataliya Kiselova, opened the new academic year for the twenty-third class of the Bulgarian School of Politics (BSoP). At the end of March, Lion Hotel in Borovets gathered the new forty representatives of parliamentary represented Bulgarian parties and leaders from the civil sector in the National Program “Governing Skills” of the BSoP. After a three-month selection, MPs, mayors, deputy mayors, municipal councillors, people from the state administration, foundations, associations, the judiciary, etc. found a place in Class of 2025. All of them will complete four training courses, will make an educational visit to Brussels, some will also take part in the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg.
Traditionally, the first course of the training was dedicated to the development of various skills. Assoc. Prof. Kiselova spoke about leadership, strategies and morality in politics. The lecturer in political psychology, Assoc. Prof. Ivan K. Ivanov drew attention to the creation of the political leader, personality and power. The lecture of DSc. Lachezar Afrikanov was also dedicated to the creation, but of teams, and Ivelin Nikolov presented through a lecture and role-playing games successful models for conducting negotiations and managing conflicts. The development of the communication skills of the course participants is a task that BSoP sets in all courses of the training in the National Program. In the first course, the trainees were introduced to the effective models of political speech by the lecturer in rhetoric and communication, Prof. Ivanka Mavrodieva. In small groups, they had to apply what they learned by creating a political speech from the position of a representative of the local government or a different political party. In the secrets of writing as a journalist, the course participants were introduced by Kalina Vlaykova, a long-time reporter in print and electronic media.
The classes of the National Program of BSoP have always included and include both political and civil leaders. Julian Popov spoke about effective connections and models between NGOs, citizens and the government. He is a senior advisor at the European Climate Foundation and has experience in government as a Minister of Environment and Water.