NEWS AND VIEWS
Document translations aid Ukraine
by Olenka Dobczanska
WASHINGTON - Some of the most valuable materials produced by the Parliamentary Development Project (PDP), a three-year program of Indiana University and the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), are its translations.
To date the project has generated over 100 documents in both Ukrainian and English. These materials have been vital to establishing and maintaining a communications link between Ukraine and the West, and enhancing debate on public policy issues in Ukraine.
Most translations are responses to requests from deputies of Ukraine's Supreme Council and tend to reflect the issues being most hotly debated during legislative sessions. Thus, documents describing relations between the executive and legislative branches in various Western governments in Europe and the Americas were very popular when President Leonid Kuchma's bill on powers was being debated in the Parliament.
About 80 percent of PDP's translation work is in preparing Ukrainian language versions of English documents. Besides requests from deputies, selection of materials can also be based upon the recommendation of the PDP, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation or Indiana University personnel. For example, one document that became very popular was done at the suggestion of Indiana University staff. The Budget Law of the State of Iowa, which was very well received in Ukraine, is generally seen by local government experts in the U.S. as an example of a well-organized state budget process.
Of course, by far the most frequently translated documents are those that deal with budget issues, such as the massive CRS Manual to the Federal Budget. The Banking and Finance Commission of the Supreme Council has also been extremely interested in tax laws, such as those of Sweden and Norway.
Comparative documents explaining parliamentary structures of Britain, the United States, Italy and Germany, among others, have frequently been requested. Rules and regulations of various standing committees in the U.S. Congress have also been well received. Perhaps not so surprisingly, one of the most popular documents in this area has been a chart showing how a bill becomes law in the Congress of the United States.
Currently, documents on relations between central and local governments, such as An Overview of European Local Government Systems, Types of U.S. Local Governments and A Model Charter for Oregon Cities are more and more in demand, reflecting the increasing power struggle over local government authority in Ukraine.
The remaining 20 percent of PDP documents have been English translations of Ukrainian materials. Laws and proposed laws under consideration by the Supreme Council have been of great benefit to Western experts and advisors at the PDP. They have allowed Westerners to understand Ukraine more clearly, analyze proposed legislation and work together with Ukrainian deputies on revisions and amendments. They have also enhanced meetings between both sides, such as the PDP's "Policy Development Conference on the Separation of Powers and Power Authority in Times of Social and Economic Crisis," which took place last April in Kyiv.
Translations of analytical documents written by the executive directors of the PDP's five working groups (budget processes, legislative-executive relations, commission structure and operations, legislative processes, citizen relations) have given Western advisors an in-depth understanding of political practices in Ukraine, further enhancing their ability to give useful advice.
These analyses by the executive directors have also been popular with deputies in their original Ukrainian form. Recently, analytical documents comparing the 1994, 1995 and proposed 1996 budgets of Ukraine by Oleksander Barabash, the executive director of the PDP's Working Group on Budget Processes, gained such popularity that they were published in a special issue of the PDP's bulletin and sent to all the deputies of the Supreme Council as well as distributed widely to the media.
The PDP keeps track of requests for documents to identify those which are particularly useful for policy-makers in Ukraine. This allows for a more accurate assessment of the focus areas in which the program is having greatest impact and helps to define areas of priority for future translation efforts.
A list of PDP materials translated from Ukrainian to English is available from the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. If you would like one sent to you, please contact the Washington office of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, at 1511 K St. NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005; telephone, (202) 347-4264; fax, (202) 347-4267; or e-mail: [email protected]. The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization whose goal is to foster democratic and free-market development in Ukraine.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 7, 1996, No. 27, Vol. LXIV
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