From 9 till 15 July a Policy Brief Writing Workshop took place at the OSCE Academy. This seven-day summer school was organized by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR CA) and the OSCE Academy in Bishkek with the financial support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This school forms part of the project “Giving Voice, Driving Change – From the Borderland to the Steppes”, jointly implemented by IWPR and the OSCE Academy over the next three years. The project is implemented following the Memorandum of Cooperation and Collaboration between the two institutions signed on 22 February 2018.
The program was designed for young researchers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in order to improve their skills in developing analytical publications for the media on issues related to post-Soviet problems Central Asia. 20 participants had a chance to listen to trainers, practitioners and experts from Europe, the CIS and Central Asia, discussing the specific features and standards of an analytical article for the media, including types of analytical products for media (economic, political, financial, conflict analysis, international analytics, human rights analytics), structure and composition of an analytical article, methodology for writing one, software for data processing and analysis, visual tools, and strategies for promoting an analytical article.
In addition to the theoretical part, the summer school included thematic meetings with political science, public administration, international relations, economics and mass media experts.