On 28 July, students of 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 school met with Alisa Chilingaryan, Editor of the independent, specialized news website Iravaban.net.

She spoke to the students  about media risk, media literacy, media communication, as well as corruption risks in procurement.

Alisa Chilingaryan urged the participants to be more careful and alert when following different mass media, not to immediately believe what they read and to check the source of its origin.

“It is not always that the information found in the mass media completely or partially corresponds to the reality. And it is not necessary to accept every information received as absolute truth. It should be checked and verified. In addition to determining the source of the received information, it is also necessary to look at the received news from multiple angles in order to fully understand and perceive it,” Alisa Chilingaryan said.

The Editor of Iravaban.net also spoke about the problems in the procurement sector. Alisa Chilingaryan referred to the representative expenses incurred by state bodies and noted that they often exceed the limits of logic.

She talked about some of them, for example, about buying and giving away expensive alcoholic beverages, carpets, scarves, jewelry and paintings. Alisa Chilingaryan also spoke about possible corruption risks in procurements made from one person.

The students asked the speaker a number of questions about both the procurement sector and the activities of Iravaban.net.

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.