Youth Debate Club Sparks Spirited Discussion on Key Challenges
Debate, negotiation, and compromise are areas of great need for any politician, but also points of weakness in inter-party dialogue and within and between parliament and government. An NDI pilot program in Serbia has brought together 15 participants – chosen primarily by the recommendations of senior party officials and by youth party leadership - for training in various styles of debate and negotiation. Divided into multi-partisan teams, participants meet monthly to debate current issues and determine which winning team made the best use of negotiation and compromise to reach an agreement - including an overall winner - as well as awards for best speech, best point of order, and best point of information.
Ten debates organized over the course of more than one year included the future of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, joining NATO/Partnership for Peace, the future status of Kosovo, euthanasia, compulsory voting, and conscientious objection.
"Beside all similarities with a real parliamentary debate, the debate that you have organized could be a model for MPs with its dynamics, good communication, and before all in terms of its content," said Milan Sekuloski, an adviser to the Committee for Defense and Security in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, after participating as a guest speaker in the debate on conscientious objection.
Debating techniques have improved from debate to debate, with participants equally focused on both the substance and composition of their speeches as a part of the team effort. Participants note that these gatherings not only help them to improve their presentation, public speaking, negotiating, and debating skills, but widen their views on important issues facing Serbian society today.
More than 60 members from youth wings of relevant parties participated in the debates, including representatives of ethnic minority parties from Vojvodina and Sandzak and students from the faculties of law and political science. The group plans to register the society as an independent NGO, with the hope of becoming a self-run organization of politically engaged youth.
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