Event reports
“The KAS Summer School Berlin is a unique opportunity for political advisors from around the world to meet and exchange expertise on political communication strategies and campaigns. The guest lectures, workshops and interactions with editors, political leaders and local government representatives helps to broaden ones understanding as well as is a great way to network. In fact, beyond the classroom through conversations one is able to get deeper insights into issues and develop a bond with the cohort of young leaders. The delegates themselves have considerable years of experience; many of whom happen to be campaign managers to Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates in their respective countries. This undoubtedly enriches the interactions and broadens one’s own outlook regarding policy as well as political issues.
Media training workshops provide a hands-on experience to understand the best practices in political communication. Visits to cities beyond Berlin expose the international delegates to the best of local governance practices. One is able to do a comparative analysis of the federal and state government functioning, funding and social programs. Furthermore, visits to the federal and state parliament involve high level meetings with political leaders who share their experiences and journey to the political offices they hold.
The KAS Summer School has an extensive alumni network spread across continents which allows one extensive collaboration opportunities. It also brings forth the best of German culture, politics and media in a holistic manner to the delegates. This is undoubtedly the only summer school of kind that focuses on young political advisers from across the world, camping in the most dominant economic powerhouse of Europe.”
The participants, who are usually from KAS partner political parties in their countries, visited the Junge Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus and exchanged views with Frank Priess on global issues and the work of KAS worldwide. During the visit of the “Federal Press Conference”, they were able to gain an impression of the discussion of current topics in Germany. In Brandenburg, the delegation visited the state parliament and discussed current challenges of the state election next year with the CDU campaign leader Gordon Hoffmann. The recurrent theme in all conversations was populism and how to respond to it. In the countries of origin of the participants, this topic plays a role as well as in Germany. The German interlocutors therefore benefited just as much from the experience of the guests as the other way round. An important result in addition to the official program was once again the networking between the participants and also with the interlocutors, which works well thanks to the new media. The participants also met for a luncheon discussion with the colleagues from the respective country teams. The program was organized and accompanied by Dr. Kristina Hucko and Manuela Nadler from the Team Domestic Programs of KAS.
