Roma Leadership Academy “Nicolae Gheorghe”: Call for Applications

The objective of the Roma Leadership Academy “Nicolae Gheorghe” is to strengthen democratic institutions and governance by building the capacity of Roma and Sinti in elected and appointed office, potential Roma and Sinti candidates for public office, as well as experienced Roma and Sinti civil society advocates.

Throughout the training, participants will strengthen their knowledge and understanding of ways to maximize their policy and decision-making leverage to benefit Roma and Sinti at the local, national and international levels.

The Academy curriculum is highly participatory and relies on mixed-method adult learning techniques including mentoring, experiential learning (simulations and role-play), expert lectures and small group work. Course mentors are senior-level practitioners who have significant professional experience as advisors or principals, and/or specialized knowledge in one of the core curricular subjects.

The core content of the training includes:

Policy cycle: introduction to the policy cycle, stakeholder analysis and actor mapping;
Effective briefing and reporting: briefing principles, drafting talking points, practicing meeting simulations, and report writing;
Crafting and delivering a speech: speech writing principles, speech drafting and delivery;
Strategic communication: communication principles and strategy, crisis communication, including interview and debriefing practices;
Negotiations: negotiations principles and negotiations simulations.
Selected participants will also have the chance of interacting with senior experts invited for guest talks.

Who is the Academy for?

This call for applications is open to Roma and Sinti coming from any of the 57 OSCE participating States. In particular, ODIHR invites applications from Roma and Sinti who belong to one of the following categories, in this order of priority:

Roma and Sinti in elected positions and political appointees;
Roma and Sinti working in executive structures, public administration and state institutions;
Aspiring political candidates on behalf of Roma and Sinti parties and organizations, mainstream parties, or standing as independent candidates;
Roma and Sinti civil society representatives actively involved in policy advocacy on behalf of Roma at the local, regional or national level.
In addition, candidates should also have a demonstrated interest in acquiring new skills, knowledge and experience in the areas of leadership, politics, policy-making, human rights, combating racism and discrimination, advocacy and policy dialogue.

Candidates also have to possess a good command of English and commit their availability for the full duration of the training.

In the selection process, ODIHR will pay particular attention to ensuring a gender and geographical balance among participants, including representation of Roma and Sinti women’s rights activists and participants from different age groups, including youth.

ODIHR does not inform applicants who have not been selected for the training.

Interested candidates matching the profile are welcome to submit their applications – by 31 October 2021 – by filling in an online application form and uploading their CVs through the following link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/dfbea4ea6ec74534b860bfddd2331b20 .

Location

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the training will take place in an online format. Participants will be able to login to an online learning platform (Moodle) to download course materials and follow induction videos at their own pace, after which they will join live lectures and participate in online exercises.

Dates

The training consists of two distinct modules, to take place from 3 to 5 December 2021 and from 10 to 12 December 2021.

Questions

In case of any questions, please write to Jashar Jasharov, ODIHR Associate Programme Officer, at: Jashar.Jasharov@odihr.pl.