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IWPR teaches government employees at Osh and Jalal-Abad to carry out lectures on legal culture

After the training, government employees will carry out outreach activities to improve legal culture of young people and citizens of the two cities.

The training has involved regional employees of ministries and agencies of Osh and Jalal-Abad. 20 employees in the southern capital and 24 in Jalal-Abad have taken part in the training.

The training has been organised by the IWPR office in Kyrgyzstan as part of cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic on improving legal culture of people. According to the existing Concept, employees of local subdivisions of ministries and other agencies must carry out educational activities to improve legal culture of students, school students and wide public.

To make lectures of government employees more efficient and interesting, IWPR carries out a series of trainings in Bishkek and regions to improve communication skills and carry out entertaining and memorable outreach activities. The first similar training was organised for the employees of the Ministry of Justice in last October (for details see: link).

This time participants have been learning for two days interesting and effective methods of legal material teaching to regular citizens, carrying out presentations, preparing and planning lectures of legal theory, and interactive activity, bilateral work with the audience.

The trainers have been communication experts with broad experience of trainings and working with audience Meerim Osmonaliyeva and Ulan Usoyun.

During the training, special attention has been paid to practical training, reinforcement of newly acquired knowledge. Participants have been divided into four groups and after the theory part they have developed their model lectures on various subjects – beginning with subject, structuring and planning of lecture, up to the presentation of ready work before other workshop participants. After the presentation, every team has been given feedback and recommendations on how to strengthen some or other aspects.

According to Meerim Osmonaliyeva, more attention should be paid to the resources and sources of information on legal culture because government employees often find it difficult to use proper references in lectures and educational activities for school students and students. Therefore, two guides have been developed specifically for the training: 1. Interactive Techniques Guide; 2. Training Activity Development Guide, which include material on interactive techniques, videos, other additional materials necessary for legal culture campaigns.

“The training itself has been absolutely new for all the participants. As we have found out during the training, more than 90% of participants have had no idea of how to make presentations, what methods should be used to improve legal culture of people,” trainer Osmonaliyeva said.

“The term “legal culture” has been new for participants since they have seen such concepts as “human rights”, “children’s and women’s rights”, and so on, but legal awareness raising and legal education has become a challenge for participants. Legal culture is not only about human rights, but also about the general level of knowledge and objective public attitude to the law; body of legal knowledge in the form of standards, beliefs and mindsets created during vital activities,” she said.

Participants said they learned many new things and acquired important and useful information for further legal outreach activities.

 “I’ve understood that I have made many mistakes during previous meetings with students and ordinary people,” Nurzhan Abdrazakova, employee of a local unit of Ministry of Finance in Osh, said. “A recipe for a successful lecture depends on how clearly and understandably one can present one’s lecture; it’s essential to pay attention to the communication with the audience to make the material learned.”

Maria Akmatbekova, employee of a pre-trial detention facility of Jalal-Abad, said she would actively use brainstorming, team work, subject matter discussions to make lecture attendants learn new information better.

“It’s important not only to work at the content, but also to pay attention to its presentation, innovative methods. Now we will pay attention to how well our attendants have learned, understood our lectures,” Maria Akmatbekova said.

Special representative of Central Election Committee in Jalal-Abad, Damir Jundubayev, noted that such trainings should be held more often and periodically to let participants improve their skills and master their work with the audience.

After this training, participants will hold lectures on law among students, school students and in other public places.

In order to raise legal awareness of people, similar works will be held by the officers of the central office of ministries and agencies. In March, IWPR has planned to carry out a similar training on effective communications and presentation for the above-mentioned government employees of Bishkek.

This trainings held under two IWPR projects, Investigative Journalism to Promote Democratic Reform, funded by the European Union; and Strengthening Capacities, Bridging Divides in Central Asia, funded by the Foreign Ministry of Norway. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of IWPR and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the EU or the Norwegian government.

About the organisation: The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) is a British not-for-profit media organisation that covers the situation and supports local media in crisis regions around the world. IWPR has been working in Kyrgyzstan since 1999.

For more information, please contact Aigerim Usonova, IWPR KG coordinator at Phone: 0(312) 313 097, E-mail: aigerim@iwpr.net

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