U.S.-Ukraine Foundation awarded funds to establish community partnerships (08/17/97)

U.S.-Ukraine Foundation awarded funds to establish community partnerships

by Olenka Dobczanska

WASHINGTON - The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF) has been awarded a cooperative agreement by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for a three-year program called the U.S.-Ukraine Community Partnerships for Training and Education. The goal of the program is to provide efficient, cost-effective and sustainable technical assistance, training and education to Ukrainian communities so that they may advance their role as constructive players in a democratic society.

The total USAID program award will be nearly $6.9 million.

The USAID administers the U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Since Ukraine's proclamation of independence nearly six years ago, reform efforts and Western technical assistance have been focused primarily at the national level. Over the course of this period, as power has become less centralized, it has become increasingly apparent that the success of reform efforts will be determined to a large extent at the local level.

Recognizing this, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation has been moving much of its activity beyond Kyiv over the past several years through its Non-Governmental Organization Project and especially the Local Government Project. This new USAID project will greatly benefit from the experience and contacts of the foundation's earlier efforts.

Essentially, the U.S.-Ukraine Community Partnerships for Training and Education project, over the course of three years, will link 18 Ukrainian communities with populations between 50,000 and 150,000 with similar communities in the United States. The partnered cities will attempt to solve a particular problem identified by the Ukrainian partner with the help of technical assistance from the American partner. Selection of potential communities in Ukraine will be based on criteria, such as size and degree of internal cohesion; location; level of local, regional and national significance; current and projected impact of the project and reform orientation. Communities in the United States will be selected on the basis of size and location, as well as their areas of expertise and ability to deliver training.

The foundation hopes to expand the project by bringing together educational institutions, civic organizations and business groups within the U.S.-Ukraine partnership communities, as well as attracting "unfunded" partnered communities to participate in the project.

Training will take place in three ways. First, U.S. experts from selected communities will travel to Ukraine to deliver training in the Ukrainian communities. Second, U.S. experts will deliver training at four regional training centers that will be established in Ukraine. Training at the regional centers will be open to all local public administrators, regardless of their community's role in the project. Third, Ukrainian participants will travel to the United States for training and internships in their partner communities.

Each partnership will develop training kits and/or case studies based on their experiences. In all, up to 36 case study/training kits are expected to be generated by the project. These will be housed in each of the four regional centers, as well as in the coordinating center located at the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy (POID) in Kyiv. They will be there to help other Ukrainian communities replicate the successes of the project, expanding its impact beyond the 18 designated communities.

Another important component of the project will be the communications strategy that will be implemented by the POID in Ukraine and the USUF in the United States. A monthly bulletin/newsletter and quarterly journal will keep all participants within the project informed, not only of project activities, but more importantly, of critical issues facing Ukrainian communities in their reform efforts. Thus, each community partnership will be aware that it is not isolated but part of a widescale assistance effort. This will create a network of participating communities, ultimately increasing their influence in a democratic society.

The USUF will be implementing this program with the assistance of the University of Texas at Tyler, Gittins Associates Inc., and the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy in Kyiv.

For more information about the U.S.-Ukraine Community Partnerships for Training and Education Project contact: U.S.- Ukraine Foundation, at 1511 K St., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005; teleophone (202) 347-4264; fax; (202) 347-4267; E-mail, [email protected], or visit the USUF's new website at www.erols.com/usuf.

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