Summer School 2019

Christian values in Democratic Governance

Academy for Integrity in Leadership organized the Summer School 2019 on the topic: Christian values in Democratic Governance. The Summer School was held in Vadul lui Voda on July 25 - 27, 2019. The project was supported financially by the SGP and ECPM.

The School was attended by 40 participants from various cities around the country: Chisinau, Balti, Cahul and Criuleni.

The main objective of the summer school was to provide advice and knowledge on Public Policy theories, concepts and methodologies and train young Christian leaders to apply the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy. The program also included diverse approaches, research methods, case studies, round table discussion and working group sessions. The Summer School tried to answer the following questions:

• •            Analytical approaches. How can Christian values shape governance and produce democratic policy change and innovation?

• •            Tools of policy innovation. What are the innovation tools in public policy formulation? Why Christian should set an example in being the best?

• •            Policy learning. How to design policies in order to generate change in society in line with Christian principles and views?

  The participants had the opportunity to attend the following activities:

• •            Lecture sessions: There will be a total of four sessions which will address various topics that are relevant for future public servants and those interested to be active in the public arena. 

• •            Case study: Participants were split into teams and asked to analyze the corruption in the Moldovan healthcare system. The case study was carefully designed to address a pressing issue faced by Moldovan society. Each team was assigned a team leader from within the leadership of the Academy who guided them in the process of solving the case study.

• •            Guest speakers: Two relevant guest speakers will be featured during the summer school.  

  Session 1: Ethics and Public Policy

  The first session was presented by Stanislav Ghiletchi - Executive Director of the Academy for Integrity in Leadership.

  The session answered the following questions: What is ethics? What are ethical dilemmas? How can leaders solve ethical dilemmas? What are the techniques for ethical deliberations? What is the difference between the world's approach and Christian approach to dilemmas? The moral compass and moral vision versus economic needs and personal interests.

  The session highlighted the fact that all public policy solutions require several trade-offs. The Government does not have enough resources to fund all ideas and initiatives. Should the Government finance a local infrastructure project or a program designed to help and support single mothers? The session proposed models of solving such ethical dilemmas and ethical principles that would facilitate the decision making process.

   

  Session 2 - Nudge Power

  The second session was presented by Eugen Ghiletchi - Economic analyst at one of the leading economic think tanks in Moldova Expert Group.

  The session answered the following questions: What is nudging? Why government nudges motivate good citizen behavior. Is nudging a cost-effective way for governments to get their citizens to do the right thing? Do people like government nudges? Should government invest more in nudging? What would be good nudges for Moldova?

  As of lately, the Governments around the world became were interested in this subject. As nudging can be easily abused, the session highlighted the risks of uncontrolled nudging initiatives and the importance of values in designing ethical social experiments. The session also increased the awareness of the participants about nudging, as people on a daily basis interact with it at various levels.

  Guest speaker: Titus Corlatean

  The first guest speaker was Titus Corlatean - A Christian member of the Romanian Parliament and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Corlatean shared the testimony of his life. The first part related to the struggles and challenges in his private life and how God used those to change and transform his life. The second part of his presentation related to his active role in the public life. Mr. Corlatean shared interesting details of how political deals happen and his interactions with other high level politicians. The presentation was followed by a very active Q&A session. 

  Session 3

  Panel discussion: Moldova’s Europeanization in the context of the Western Cultural Revolution

  Speakers:

  Valeriu Ghiletchi - former deputy speaker of the Parliament, President of AIC

  Maria van Oost – ECPM/VOE representative

  Ghenadie Vaculovschi - journalist and former politician

  The session was moderated by Lucia Hmelic, AIC board member.

  The panel discussion presented the clash of values that the countries face on their path towards European Integration. For example, the condition for Moldova's Visa liberalization program with the EU, the Government had to adopt an antidiscrimination law. The discussion answered the following questions:

  • Is European integration the best way to transform our country?

  • On the cultural-value level, what major challenges could Moldova face in the Integration process?

  • Is there a risk of losing cultural identity and values in the process of adhering to EU values?

  • Is there a risk of dilution of values and subsequently of moral decay? What would this decline look like?

  • Is it possible to transform Moldova into the path of European Integration without paying the price of losing cultural and moral values?

  Session 4 - Case study analysis

  The fourth session was presented by Dumitru Malic - member of the AIC board.

  The session answered the following questions: How to tackle a case study? What are the best methods to analyze a case study? What are some of the tricks and traps? Common problems in case study analysis.

  The session offered the participants the required tools and knowledge to analyze the case study prepared by the AIC team: Corruption in health system - gifts from the patients.

  Case study exercise (short version)

  In 2018, the prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Center conducted an operation within the Research Institute for Mother and Child Health Care, and seized a sum of a million and a half lei. The largest sum of money, over 1.2 thousand lei was found to belong to the Chief for the Radiology section who kept in his bank vault 761 thousand lei, 24 thousand euros and one thousand dollars, as well as some golden items.

  The case is an example of systematic corruption - a legacy, of the health care system, inherited from the communist period and affecting the quality of the medical services. Around the country, the overwhelmed medical institutions cannot adequately meet the patients' requests and the medical staff result in accepting informal payment in order to fill in the gaps of the system.

  Although authorities continue to convict and to conduct investigative operations, corruption remains an existing endemic issue in the public health system.

  Questions answered by the participants?

  1.What is the problem that causes the existence of corruption within the health system?

  2.Bring evidence to support the choice of the problem.

  3.Bring solutions for the problem you identified.

  Guest speaker: Adriaan Otte - SGP

  The second guest speaker was Adriaan Otte. In the first part of the presentation, Adriaan described the political realities from the Netherlands. Most of the participants were surprised to learn that the Netherlands has a long tradition of Christian parties and Christian members of the Parliament and how Christian values still shape and influence public life.

  In the second part, Adriaan described Christian leadership principles. Each principles was accompanied with concrete examples, that helped participants better understand how each principles is applied in our daily life, but also in the public arena. The presentation was followed by an exercise on ethical dilemmas. In groups, the participants had to decide how to solve an ethical dilemma and then had to justify why their selected solution is the best to solving the dilemma.

  The presentation concluded with an active Q&A. 

  AIC staff assessment:

  Overall, the local team considered that the Summer School was a successful event and the planned goals were reached. It was for the first time when half of the participants did not come from Protestant churches. This helped us increase our network and reach beyond our local churches. This could also serve as an important step coagulating a group of conservative young people that share the Cristian values.