Dimitrios S. Papangelopoulos

Dimitris S. Papangelopoulos works as a Communication and Political Management consultant. He completed postgraduate studies at the George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. It was there that his idea for the Greek Leadership Institute was conceived, launched in collaboration with Alexandros Skouras as an initiative that pertains to political education, as well as the quality of Democracy, and being an innovative endeavor for Greek and European standards.

The Greek Leadership Institute, based on the experience of its members and the optimal practices behind pre-election campaigns, presented a concise, practical, and effective seminar with the aim of providing municipal council candidates with all the resources so as to accomplish the best possible outcome in the local Greek elections in 2019.

The purpose of the “Local Leader” seminar is to train municipal and regional council candidates, in order to become as effective as possible in the attraction of voters. The presentation is designed in such a way that each section provides useful guidelines in a simple and cohesive manner, so that every candidate – regardless of their education, profession, or experience – can benefit from them. During the pre-election period, several political organizations from the Municipalities of Attica, Kalamata, Xylokastro, Loutraki, and the Region of Ionian Islands received the training.

In the following years, similar seminars were attended by students of Departments of Political Sciences, scholars of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, political officials of the New Democracy party and ONNED (The Youth Organization of New Democracy) in Karditsa, Larissa, and Chios.

In this particular initiative, Dimitris S. Papangelopoulos serves as co-founder, main designer and lecturer at the seminar, the aim of which is to further its function by training more municipal lists/candidates in view of the upcoming local elections.

The added value of this initiative is that it introduces political technology to Greece, strengthens active citizens who seek the vote of their fellow citizens, improves the quality of political competition, and offers an additional outlet to graduates of Departments of Political Sciences.