The AŻAD Foundation, a branch of the Nationalist Party, has launched a political training programme called STEP, which is aiming to help more people develop political skills together with social and cultural knowledge.

STEP was launched during a news conference addressed by the General Secretary of the Nationalist Party Michael Piccinino and by Charlo Bonnici, who is one of the programme coordinators.

Piccinino explained that the PN wants to grow and develop the talent within it and therefore, it is taking initiatives such as STEP that can affect a wider range of people in the country.

This programme will be following others that have been done in the past, such as Future Leaders and will be open to anyone who wants to take the next step in politics.

He explained that STEP should not only be the first step for those who want to start or progress in their political career, but also serve as training. That is why the name STEP also means Systematic Training for Effective Politics.

Bonnici said that the AZAD Foundation has the function of launching such programmes, which see how people who may not feel comfortable working within a political party, anymore might be attracted to such activities, in autonomous atmosphere.

He said that STEP will include informative sessions and workshops for the participants to have new formation, knowledge, skills and competences. All this will be done with the help of mentors who will give participants the needed support during their political journey.

STEP will open with an introductory weekend in the coming weeks, particularly to strengthen contact between all participants and for them to begin to understand more what political activism and public life mean. From there, participants will be taken to workshops and mentoring sessions, with a particular focus on their participation in discussions and in preparation for their political speeches.

In the last phase of the programme, participants will be invited to participate in thematic focus groups together with sector experts, where they will be given the opportunity to practice what they have experienced in the previous weeks.

The application form for STEP can be found at this link https://shorturl.at/fnstu.