Held for the second time in Shan State (South), the 12th MySoP course came to an end on the 9th of August. At the closing ceremony held at Inle Lake, 28 state level senior politicians from 14 different political parties graduated and joined the growing number of MySoP alumni. There are already almost 200 alumni, all trained in MySoP courses throughout 2014-2018.
28 senior state level politicians from 14 different political parties participated in the 12th MySoP course
The Myanmar School of Politics, run jointly by Demo Finland and its partner Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), aims at strengthening the democratic functioning of political parties and promotes multiparty dialogue at regional and state levels. The 12th instalment of the intensive political training course was opened on the 24th of July with keynote speeches from Finland´s Ambassador to Myanmar, Riikka Laatu and Htin Kyaw, Chair of the Election Sub Commission of Shan State (South).
In her speech, using her home country as an example, Ambassador Laatu reflected on the positive effect multiparty cooperation can have for a country’s development.
“The multiparty system is an effective mechanism introduced to Finnish political parties to retain peace and development in the country”, she said.
In his remarks Mr. Htin Kyaw emphasized the importance of dialogue and giving space for different opinions: “I encourage all trainees to respect and listen to each other and have constructive dialogue during the course”.
In keeping with these speeches, during the 17-day course the participants working across party lines studied together topics varying from political theory, party programme planning and gender in politics to campaigning and speech writing.
The course came to an end on the 9th of August with a closing ceremony where the 28 participants along with one official from the Election Sub Commission became MySoP graduates. At the ceremony speeches were given by Mr. Tin Oo, Advocate General of Shan State and Mr. Htin Kyaw and the new graduates were congratulated by the Ambassador of The Netherlands in Myanmar, Mr. Wouter Jurgens.
Ambassador Mr. Wouter Jurgens speaks at the closing ceremony of the 12th MySoP course
“When I see this group, I can only be an optimist. You are politicians who know what your voters want. And you also know how to work together to make policies that create progress and a better future for Myanmar. I am happy to be here today to congratulate you as a new generation of bridge builders and to celebrate together with you “, he said.
Demo Finland warmly congratulates the newest MySoP graduates, welcome to the alumni group!
Read more about MySoP and our Tunisia School of Politics and get to know our work in Zambia and Mozambique.