On 21 July, the students of the 9th stream of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders, the 1st anti-corruption professional educational initiative operating in the Republic of Armenia, within the framework of the master classes and practical skills development phase of the 9th stream of the school visited the Civil Service Bureau of the Office of the Prime Minister of the RA. Mr. Vache Kalashyan, the Head of the Bureau received them.

He spoke about corruption and its evil consequences. Vache Kalashyan also remembered “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling  and the 2 laws that apply there. “Eeveryone lives for themselves” and “We be of One Blood, Thou and I”.

“One separated identity, defined individual interest, and the other was the one that gave the opportunity to integrate into the environment. In other words, the jungle, as a whole, exists when these 2 laws work in harmony. Your parents lived in Soviet Armenia, where individual interest was pulverized and nullified. There was no “I”, there was “we”, public interest, public property. Private and public interest must coexist so that society can live a harmonious life.” The Head of the Civil Service Bureau said and added that corruption is manifested in the context of coexistence rules or other social relations.

According to the speaker, corruption is the abuse of an official position entrusted by the public to satisfy personal interest. The audience discussed the question.

Vache Kalashyan also spoke about public, state, community, civil and special administration.

Speaking about the practice of hiring or appointing a discretionary position in the state system on the principle of nepotism. in-law-acquaintance-friend, the Head of the Civil Service Bureau offered his solution. He believes that the institution of guarantee should be introduced. If a person thinks that, for example, he should appoint his cousin to a position, then in case of the latter’s failure to fulfill his duties due to dishonorable reasons and/or improper performance and/or exceeding his official authority and/or violating internal work disciplinary rules, not only the latter will be responsible, but also the person who guaranteed him, who hired him in the system.

Vache Kalashyan also spoke about the elements of management, which are accountability, work efficiency and respect for the values that are the benchmark.

Notably, the training in the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders will be organized in the following phases:

1. ONLINE TRAINING PHASE, during which the students will pass a basic anti-corruption course consisting of 25 topics through the school’s online anti-corruption training platform. Those students who have completed all the knowledge test questionnaires and received the appropriate points for completing the online training will be considered completed the online training phase.
2. MASTER CLASS AND PRACTICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PHASE, during which students who have successfully completed the advanced stage of school will be divided into groups and each group will conduct a study, monitoring or investigation on one of the in-depth anti-corruption topics. During this phase, the work will be organized in the form of group meetings, discussions, and meetings with representatives of the sectors and other relevant bodies and organizations. Attendees will learn a range of innovative tools and gain related skills. At this stage, mentoring for groups is planned.
3. PUBLIC AWARENESS PHASE, during which students who have successfully completed the practical skills development phase of the school will have the opportunity to disseminate their anti-corruption knowledge among young people through public awareness seminars.
4. ADVANCED TRAINING PHASE, during which the best 15-20 participants who have achieved high results in the online training phase of the school, successfully completed the in-depth interview phase and are selected, will participate in the outreach (out of Yerevan) in-depth anti-corruption training. The in-depth training phase of the school will consist of the modules: “Anti-Corruption Advanced Training” and “Pillars of National Identity”.
5. FINAL PHASE, during which the students, who have successfully completed the practical skills development and public awareness stages of the school, will present their research and public awareness results to the reputable jury and the public.

Students who have passed and successfully graduated from all five phases of the School will be awarded GRADUATION CERTIFICATES of Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders.

The Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders was founded by Karen Zadoyan, the President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, a member of the Anti-Corruption Policy Council. “The Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO is organizing the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders in cooperation with the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia.

The information partner of the Anti-Corruption School for Young Leaders is Iravaban.net,  independent professional news website.