Prishtina School for Political Studies has opened the call for application for the admission of candidates for the nineteenth generation (19).

School for Political Studies is one of the first non-formal political education programs in Kosovo and the oldest program that is still active. School for Political Studies has been implemented by the Prishtina Institute for Political Studies since 2003 through the support of the Council of Europe.

The aim of the program is to promote a new political culture for young leaders in line with the three key principles of the Council of Europe: democracy, rule of law and human rights. Throughout a year 30 participants coming from political parties, media, civil society, public administration etc. have the opportunity to attend modules with lectures from eminent local and international speakers. The program is currently implemented in 22 different countries around the world and graduates are certified by the Council of Europe and the Secretary General of this organization.

On November 27, journalists participating in the PIPS Program for journalists in energy and environment met with the Group Caucus of MPs.

Journalists had the opportunity to get informed about the short-term and long-term objectives of the group and their commitment to environmental protection, and its prioritization on the national agenda.

Furthermore, the discussion covered the issue of hydropower plants and the energy situation in the country, the orientation of development policies towards sustainability and raising awareness regarding Kosovar media coverage of environmental issues.

On November 25, PIPS published the analysis on the second phase of rationalization of agencies and regulators in Kosovo. Together with representatives from key institutions involved in this reform - the assembly, the ministry of public administration and the agencies we discussed the opportunities for the second phase.

As part of the political priorities agreed between Kosovo and the EU in 2016, for the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the implementation of the first phase of this reform has not been completed, and consequently there are delays in the implementation of the second phase, which according to the action plan for the implementation of the whole reform, was intended to be completed by the end of this year.

From 13 to 20 October 2020, we organized an environmental reporting workshop with German journalist Dirk Asendorpf and a group of Kosovar journalists profiled in research and writing on environmental issues. During these four sessions Kosovar journalists had the posssibility to learn about the history of environmental reporting, current challenges, best practices, reporting angles, presenting stories and hear about experiences of the facilitator.

 

Over the weekend of 9 October PIPS held the third seminar of the School for Political Studies with the participants of the eighteenth generation.
This seminar covered the topic "Foreign Policy and International Relations".

We discussed with a group of experts of the field the dynamics and main theories of foreign policy and security, especially within the context of Kosovo.

During these days we discussed the interaction between foreign policy, international relations theory and public international law; Kosovo in the new regional and global context; the challenges of Kosovo's sovereignty and recognition as well as Kosovo in the multilateral framework and potential NATO membership.

The second seminar of the School for Political Studies was held from July 21-23 and July 28-30. Over the course of six days the participants participated in lectures by public policy experts in the areas of political ideology and its effects on public policy.