The manual you are about to explore is designed to help the democratic political activists and leaders of tomorrow who will be navigating their way across a changing Europe full of fresh demands and opportunities.

The toolkit is a result of the British Council’s UK-South East Europe Forum, a two year regional initiative designed to provide free space for debate and partnership-building between young politicians in South East Europe and the UK. It is the product of collaboration between Unlock Democracy - New Politics Network, a UK based think tank, and politically aware young people of South Eastern Europe.

The material includes the political and professional experiences of participants in the Forum and is intended for anyone who wants to be active in democratic politics. While it offers a guide to the broad principles and ideas behind political campaigning, the toolkit is not a manual for solutions to specific problems. Developing those solutions is a task for you as you use the rights and accept the responsibilities of political commitment.

The toolkit is divided into four parts:

The first, Successful Politicians, looks at the purpose of politics and analyses different types of politicians, with the purpose of identifying what makes a successful political practitioner.

The second part focuses on Personal Development and aims to help you to set realistic goals and work towards achieving them. It offers insights into presentation and communication.

The toolkit goes on to look at Effective Campaigning, offering a guide to the general principles and some of the arts and sciences involved in mobilising understanding and support.

Finally, every political party, at every level, obviously needs to operate properly in order to be successful and accountable. Working in an Organisation aims to help you to develop the skills needed to achieve that in the variety of tasks, including running meetings, setting budgets, fundraising and involving new people.

If you are a new member of a political party, of a youth and/or political focused organisations or student at Political Sciences and want to get a copy of the toolkit, get in touch with Andreea Stroica, Projects Officer at andreea.stroica@britishcouncil.ro.