Political Awareness Raising and Empowerment Training Report

Introduction :
As a continuation of the work on the Political Awareness Raising and Empowerment Training workshops, that the first of which was held by the Stabilization Support Unit last week in Marea in the northern countryside of Aleppo,
The second workshop was held in Hazano Town in Idlib Countryside considering that the region is witnessing a complete absence of any political activity mentioned under the control of factions that are striving to keep the civil society away from any political activities

Training Workshop Venue: Hazano Town – Idlib
The participants: A group of community leaders and activists (Local Residents & IDPs – Women – Men)
Training Date: July 19, 2020
Duration: 2 days
Training headlines: Constitutions and regimes of governance

Topics discussed:
Parliamentary system – Magna Carta – The relationship between the powers/authorities in the parliamentary system – Disadvantages/defects and advantages of the parliamentary system – Dissolution of the parliament – Parliament’s function in the parliamentary system – Presidential system – Advantages and disadvantages of the presidential system – The relationship between the powers/authorities in the presidential system – The semi-presidential system – Smi-presidential system features.

Definition of the constitution – The difference between the constitution, organic law, and regular law – The emergence of constitutions – Types of constitutions in terms of origin, codification, amendment, and status – Procedures to amend the constitution – Content of the constitution – History of the constitutions in Syria from 1920 to 2012.

Training methodology: Brainstorming – Presenting videos that prepared by Stabilization Support Unit – Working groups – Individual & group exercises – group discussions

The participants’ recommendations regarding the future of Syria and their vision regarding the important articles/provision in the constitution:

• Strictly determine the powers of the president and not to renew his/her mandate only once
• Strictly determine the powers of the security forces/branches
• A parliamentary system of government
• Emphasis on creating a suitable environment for the political parties to operate freely
• Forming an independent body to oversee the financial income of oil
• Ensure the respect to all sects, races, components, religions, and coexistence based on citizenship
• The federal form of Government
• Giving special importance to education and work to develop the educational curriculums, raise teacher’s income and activate the scientific research

Evaluation regarding the knowledge of the participants concerning the discussed concepts:

The Participants interaction:
During the training workshop, a great desire of the participants to acquire new information was observed, especially regarding the political aspects, that they lack as a result of the absence of the role of the local community and political parties in any real political activity during the Baath period. Therefore the attendees stressed the need for repetition of such workshops and the expansion of the scope of the political concepts discuses and the need to involve them in any current political work, with the aim of shaping the future of Syria with the participation of all.