The Innovative Added Value of Blended Learning Workshops in FNF Western Balkans

From June 8 until June 29th the Project office of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom for the Western Balkans gathered a group of young liberally minded individuals from six countries for an international workshop on “Basics of Liberal Thought and Policy”. The seminar was conducted as a Blended E-SEM Learning experience, encompassing and online preparatory phase (June 08-21) and live international workshop in Belgrade, Serbia (June 29-30). The whole seminar was moderated by Dr. Stefan Melnik, an internationally renowned facilitator. The participants were young leaders from the Western Balkans (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia), as well as from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia.

All participants in Basics of Liberal Thought and Policy SeminarDuring the preparatory online phase, the participants were invited to dive in reading of the core liberal values by famous thinkers such as Ralf Dahrendorf, Friedrich A. von Hayek, Karl Popper, Hernando de Soto. A wealth of other resources, presenting the core values of liberalism (e.g. videos, infographics), was given at the disposal of the participants. That all gave equal footing to all as far as liberalism background and opened up the grounds for enriching online discussions, covering liberalism, populism, etc. 

In the international workshop in Belgrade all participants were fully empowered through a variety of participatory techniques to participate actively in defining and discussing the scale and scope of the most pressing challenges in their countries and in crafting liberal solutions and policy proposals. The active group discussed the following problematic areas (unemployment, economic stagnation, populism, extreme nationalism, crime, corruption, low quality education, migration, terrorism, EU integration, etc.), among which the most prominent four priorities were identified for all six countries as follows: economic crises, unemployment, corruption, reform of education system. Some highlights from the heated discussions in smaller groups and presentations in the circle format were the following: “In societies without corruption everything is cheaper”, “Populism is a religion in Ukraine”, etc. 

Dr. Stefan Melnik, the workshop moderatorFurthermore, the group was asked to step in the shoes of policy-makers and to propose liberal solutions to the biggest challenges, putting the emphasis on the solutions, not the problems. In the end, the discussion revolved around strategies of how liberalism should be better understood and promoted, how should we rebrand liberalism and revive its popularity and remind society of the relevancy and potential of the liberal approach nowadays. These proposals of some of the participants “Be different or die!”, “Liberals should become a brand and own certain territories in the minds of the society”, “Any liberal party should have internal structures and procedures, reflecting and embodying the liberal principles”, etc. give you an insightful glimpse in the brainstorming and debate sessions. To keep up the intellectual exchange and liberal ideas discussion, now all participants keep closely in touch, utilizing the digital freedom in and potential of social media. 

A participant from UkraineBlended E-SEM learning has turned out so far to be one of the best practices globally of the Foundation, leveraged very well by FNF Western Balkans in the region. The feedback from participants and alumni clearly demonstrates the added value of this format. It offers a much more enriching, meaningful and participatory learning by doing experience, suitable for inquisitive minds, searching for knowledge, debate and paths to freedom.

If you want to learn more about ESEM Blended learning programs in the region, please visit the webpage of FNF Western Balkans or their Facebook page. 

Here you can the photos from the workshop: