Women Empowerment

Political Leadership Development Training Session I

About the program

The Political Leadership Development Training program for progressive women was successfully launched in Greece on the weekend of 10 and 11 June 2023, organized by the Liberal Alliance political party and supported by FNF Greece & Cyprus. It took place at Impact Hub, a co-operative working space in the heart of Athens.   

The program which consists of four sessions and spreads over a 6-month period of time, was designed to provide women - who would like to enter politics and take part as progressive candidates in forthcoming elections - with the tools, techniques, and the ongoing support needed to craft and effectively implement their individual campaigns. 

The training aims at ensuring that candidates will have a network of strong female support throughout their preparation and gain visibility.  It further fosters a vibrant community of liberal individuals exchanging political ideas that could turn into action for Greece, in the near future.

Session I: Personal Branding

All facilitators were highly experienced in the fields covered by the program and had a narration of their own to share with the trainees. Despoina Limniotaki, President of the Liberal Alliance party, member of the organizing team, a Social Psychologist, and a facilitator herself, started out with exercises in group formation and team building while introducing the Personal Canvas Method of crafting one’s political profile to steer their campaign.  Two more introductory speeches were held via Zoom platform: Alina-Roxana Gîrbea, Founder of Femei în Politică from Romania, and Nana Tokhvadze, Member of Staff of the political party “Reform Group” in Georgia welcomed the trainees and briefly talked about the important work they do in their countries on female representation and rapport development. 

Then, Georgia Panopoulou, a Corporate Marketing & Communications Specialist, took over with an afternoon presentation on building a candidate’s individual election profile, analyzing its core values, personalizing and effectively communicating it.

Alongside the training, one networking World Café event was organized. On Saturday evening, the organizing group welcomed Mr. Nikos Rompapas,  Executive Director at the Center for Liberal Studies who talked to the trainees about the important role of Think Tanks in incubating new ideas and striving for policy changes.  Then there was an open discussion between participants and stakeholders, trainees and guests alike.

Day two of the training was all about authenticity by following a psychotherapeutic approach to leadership. Ioanna Galanis, a Couple & Family Therapist, did a lot of self-revealing exercises with the trainees while Despoina Limniotaki finished off with SWAT Analysis and S.M.A.R.T Targeting Methods and lots of work on political profiling facts and figures.

During both Saturday and Sunday, the invaluable help from FNF employees as given by both Alona Tatarova, Project Coordinator of Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Greece and Cyprus, and Eleni Siapikoudi, Project Assistant, ensured a perfect execution of the program. 

It was an intensive, highly-valued first session that left trainees with the best impressions.  Session I of the Political Leadership Development Training program finished with touching words and many promises as far as progress and hard work is concerned.  The training could definitely be considered a success and all participants remarked that they are looking forward to the second session in September.