Budapest – ESI at CEU workshop on action research, effective writing, and advocacy
12 April 2018
![Photo: ESI](http://www.esiweb.org/images/news_id_837a.jpg)
Photo: ESI
ESI's Gerald Knaus, Kristof Bender, Adnan Cerimagic and former ESI analyst Besa Shahini (now deputy education minister of Albania) led a two-day workshop ("Action Research, Effective Writing, and Advocacy 2018") organised by the Central European University in Budapest. They conducted practice-oriented modules and shared their experiences from more than 15 years of think tank work.
Issues covered were:
- Introduction “Writing for Impact” - put the reader first
- Empirical case studies (Montenegro) - how to show reality to change policy
- Writing about institutions (corruption in the Council of Europe)
- Transforming the education debate in Kosovo - how to integrate research and advocacy
- Basic writing tools - how to build sentences and paragraphs that work
- Break out groups - forming teams for feedback on drafts
- Brainstorming session (Kosovo education research) - how to design research for impact
- Presentation tools - how to persuade - the power of repetition
Gerald, Kristof, Adnan, and Besa talked about the background story – how to research, write and advocate for change – using different case studies from our work in recent years:
- The European Swamp (Caviar Diplomacy Part 2) – Prosecutors, corruption and the Council of Europe (2016)
- Montenegro: Germany's Balkan stipends – Asylum and the Rozaje exodus (2015)
- The Merkel Plan – A proposal for the Syrian refugee crisis (2015)
- Books and Teachers – The Great Debate on Education Kosovo needs (2014)
Apply for a Junior Fellowship with ESI – Capacity Building
![Kristof Bender, Gerald Knaus, Adnan Cerimagic, and Besa Shahini. Photo: ESI](http://www.esiweb.org/images/news_id_837.jpg)
Kristof Bender, Gerald Knaus, Adnan Cerimagic, and Besa Shahini. Photo: ESI
![Gerald Knaus. Photo: ESI](http://www.esiweb.org/images/news_id_837b.jpg)
Gerald Knaus. Photo: ESI
![Besa Shahini. Photo: ESI](http://www.esiweb.org/images/news_id_837c.jpg)
Besa Shahini. Photo: ESI