On August 18, we launched the training of the first Program of Environmental Mentoring of amalgamated territorial communities. This year’s School of Community Leaders program has changed its format and now has three stages. The first was training for leaders that we have already conducted in June. Now the second stage is the seminars for mentors on environmental issues.

Over the course of three days, 30 selected mentors participated in panel discussions on a wide range of environmental issues: from separate waste sorting to energy sustainability of communities. Now that they have all the necessary knowledge and tools, the mentors will go to the communities we selected in the first phase and start working with the leaders during September-December this year.

The concept of zero waste is about conscious consumption, about minimizing the amount of waste, giving preference to reusable items instead of “convenient” disposable ones – this is a necessity for the whole world and Ukraine in particular. But how can communities implement this concept?

Iryna Myronova, Executive Director of Zero Waste Lviv, Coordinator of ZW Cities, Member of the Board of Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine, shared her experience of initiating environmental change in the communities with mentors on the example of Lviv, a pilot zero waste city project in Ukraine.

What are Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)? How are these tools different, and how can civil society use them?

For successful work with EIA, it is important to understand the legal framework for environmental impact assessment, its stages, and features of public participation. Our mentors were helped to understand these complex issues by Maryna Shymkus, project manager of the European Business Association and an expert on SEA and EIA.

She told the Environmental Mentoring program participants the nuances of the environmental impact assessment procedure and the importance of civic control in the field of EIA.

In a few years, Ukraine has turned from a white spot on the map of Europe into a country with a developed system of equipment for air quality monitoring. Today, in just a few clicks, you can find out the air quality in almost any part of Ukraine, but how to reduce the level of air pollution?

Fine dust and emissions from large enterprises not only impair comfort – they cause a lot of diseases. Clean air is vital for people. Therefore, it is important to understand how the community and local authorities can monitor and control the environment, influence pollutants, and prevent violations of permitting procedures.

To answer all these questions, Artem Romaniukov, co-founder and director of development of Saveecobot and SaveDnipro and a 2018 USPS program Alumnus, shared with mentors successful cases of environmental control of enterprises and introduced them to the tools of air quality monitoring.

Communities depend on energy. In addition, not everyone has learned to use energy effectively and, if possible, sparingly. Therefore, it is now important to explain to communities that energy efficiency is not only financially viable but also helps to avoid crises caused by natural disasters. Every community must have a crisis response plan and an uninterrupted power supply.

Andriy Zinchenko, the co-founder of the NGO Greencubator and a participant in this year’s USPS program, told the mentors where communities could get energy from, how to avoid crises, and become energy sustainable. And on the example of his project of the municipal energy cooperative Solar Town, he demonstrated that energy is a matter not only of big capital but also of local communities and groups of people.

The main reasons for improper waste management in Ukraine today are the lack of sorting skills, the absence of the necessary infrastructure, and misunderstanding of the extent of pollution and its consequences. Because of this, only 5% of waste is sorted in Ukraine.

Fortunately, we have people who care. They are developing a sorting culture in Ukraine. One of them is Artem Myrhorodskiy, CEO and founder of the GreenAge project, CEO of BioBin, and a 2007 USPS Alumnus.

From his own experience, he told how to turn waste sorting into a profitable business. There is a demand for processing and sorting in society, we just need to provide people and businesses with convenient tools for this.

Clean water is another vital condition for the development and functioning of communities. According to a study by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP Ukraine) for 2020, water pollution and poor drinking water quality is an environmental problem №1 that worries Ukrainians.

How to solve “water” problems in Ukraine? Where to start? Mariana Hinzula, a water protection expert, worked on this with environmental mentors.

According to the speaker, the revival of water bodies of the territory is one of the key issues of community development, which will allow solving the numerous ecological and socio-cultural problems of the territory. However, the rescue of reservoirs requires a systematic and professional approach. There are no unsolvable environmental problems, but everything has a price. For the preservation of reservoirs, we’ll have to pay – not only money but also the time and effort of the people who are not indifferent about this problem.

In recent years, we have all seen climate change in Ukraine: abnormal heat, floods in the cities, and increasing fires. Therefore, adapting to these changes is a serious challenge for communities now.

Olena Maslyukivska, Associate Professor of Ecology at NaUKMA, curator of the Environmental Mentoring Program for Communities, and a 2008 USPS Alumna, conducted an interactive training for our mentors on environmental issues on adaptation to climate change.

How much will climate change in Ukraine? How will climate change affect Ukrainian communities? What are the challenges of climate change? How to help the communities adapt to these changes, and how to work properly with the stages of the adaptation cycle?

Working with open data is a popular and effective trend in many areas. In 2014, working with open data even appeared in the anti-corruption strategy. And in 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers approved Resolution №835, which determined which data sets are subject to disclosure in the form of open data.

The benefits of using open data in environmental matters may not be obvious to everyone at first glance, but working with them makes it much easier to solve many environmental problems.

Andriy Hnap, co-founder and data analyst at Waste Ukraine Analytics, told our mentors about this extremely difficult topic. Andriy managed to explain in the most accessible and easy way how to work with open data on the state of the environment.

From 1970 to 2016, the decline in the population of the species increased to a staggering 68%. This has contributed to biodiversity loss being ranked 4th among global risks in terms of impact.

Mankind needs to stop the careless use of ecosystem services and switch to nature-oriented solutions – that is, to focus efforts on the protection, effective management, and restoration of natural or modified ecosystems.

Olena Tarasova, UNDP Ukraine Project Manager and Expert, told the mentors how to do this and how to involve communities in the transition to nature-oriented solutions. She shared her experience working with communities and tools to involve amalgamated territorial communities in biodiversity conservation.

Now we move on to the 3rd stage of the project – the cooperation of mentors and communities. This is the longest and most difficult stage, but we believe that communities will feel the changes for the better by the end of this year.

As promised, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) has launched activities to provide practical support for the development of knowledge and skills of MPs and staff of secretariats of Verkhovna Rada Committees on how to better structure and manage committees and develop formalized procedures. These activities are carried out within the framework of the project “Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector in Ukraine” (PASS Ukraine).

An online meeting was recently held between the staff of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement and representatives of the House of Commons of Canada, where they exchanged knowledge, experience, and practices on building and managing the work of secretariats.

The meeting was attended by: Head of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement Bohdan Drapyatyi and his deputies from the Ukrainian side and former Clerks of the House of Commons – from the Canadian side.

This meeting was the first in a series of dialogues between colleagues from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Parliament of Canada, aimed at the practical support of Verkhovna Rada committees to improve the management of their work.

During the meeting, the secretariat learned about the organizational structure and administrative support of the House of Commons – the types of committee staff and their roles, their interaction with the committee head and other staff, and the career rotation system.

Representatives of the Ukrainian and Canadian parliaments discussed the connection between the work and experience of the staff of the secretariats of the committees in the Verkhovna Rada and the House of Commons and exchanged views on the challenges and ways to address them.

The Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector in Ukraine (PASS Ukraine) project is a joint project of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Parliamentary Center (Canada), supported by the Canadian Ministry of International Affairs under the Peacebuilding and Stabilization Program (PSOPs) and in partnership with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The security and defense sector is certainly one of the most important, especially in a country that has been at war for eight years. Therefore, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives is trying its best to familiarize parliamentarians and staff of the secretariats of the Verkhovna Rada Committees with new tools and methods for reforming the sector.

Last week, as part of the Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector in Ukraine (PASS Ukraine) project, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, in partnership with the Parliamentary Center (Canada), held a training seminar on “Legislative and Regulatory Impact Assessment and its Application in the Security Sector Reform Legislation and defense”.

Members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union were invited to participate in the seminar. Staff from the secretariats of the above-mentioned committees were also invited.

The purpose of the training seminar was to familiarize MPs, committee members, and their staff with Canadian and international experience in assessing legislative and regulatory impact and its application in the legislative process of security and defense sector reform, including assessing the different effects of legislation on women and men.

Nicola Kim, First Secretary, Embassy of Canada in Ukraine, made a welcoming speech at the opening of the training seminar.

The speakers of the training seminar were Canadian experts with many years of experience in regulatory and legislative influence:

• Daniel Trnka, Deputy Head, Regulatory Policy Division, Public Governance Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD);
• Rick Stewart, Executive Director of the Regulatory Governance Initiative (RGI) and Co-Director of the Career Development for Regulatory Professionals (CDRP) Program in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University, Ottawa;
• Michael Presley, Director, Certificate Program in Regulatory Leadership, Centre for Public Management and Policy, University of Ottawa; Former Assistant Deputy Minister (Regulatory Affairs) at the Treasury Board Secretariat, Canada.
• About the experience and practice of Ukraine in applying legislative and regulatory impact assessment in the legislative process, participants were told by Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, MP, Chairwoman, Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union, Member of the Interparliamentary Relations Group with Canada.

The seminar was held in an unusual format – combining offline and online, which allowed to simultaneously engage Canadian partners who shared their experiences and establish communication between members of different committees.

As part of the project, we plan to hold more such meetings in order to continue involving MPs and Canadian partners in close cooperation in various formats.

The Parliamentary Accountability of the Security Sector in Ukraine (PASS Ukraine) project is a joint project of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Parliamentary Center (Canada), supported by the Canadian Ministry of International Affairs under the Peacebuilding and Stabilization Program (PSOPs) and in partnership with the Verkhovna Rada Of Ukraine.

The School of Community Leaders began its work on June 24. 29 local government representatives, community leaders, civil society representatives, and volunteers joined our community.

Svitlana Matvienko, Executive Director of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, congratulated the participants on opening the School of Community Leaders. She stressed the extraordinary value of civic education in general. Projects such as the School of Community Leaders are the seeds of concrete action and real steps for change throughout Ukraine. The School of Community Leaders aims to push Ukrainian communities to change and provide them with the necessary knowledge to implement these transformations.

The School participants immediately plunged headlong into learning, and Ivan Gomza, Candidate of Political Science, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Public Administration at the Kyiv School of Economics, helped them with this. He held a discussion about political saturnalia and what to do when politics turns into a carnival? In politics, there is no division into good and bad, there are facts. Today, the fact is that carnivalization of politics is a global trend: when “clowns” and “pseudo-politicians” come to power, and the political process turns into a show. Is there a danger in this? Certainly. But this is the reality in which we live. And there are opportunities in it too.

The reform started rapidly and received support at home and abroad. However, in its implementation, naturally, difficulties arose: the decentralization of power dictates us the need for sectoral reforms – in education, medicine, culture, sports, civil protection, and security. Without accompanying reforms, decentralization loses its meaning.

Today, decentralization has lost its priority for the Government and is not going according to the vector as originally planned. But this does not mean that it should not be continued or rethought further action plan. Ukraine needs strong self-government and successful communities. This is how Oleksandr Khoruzhenko, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and an expert on local self-government, describes the reform.

Why are the citizens in democratic societies mostly dissatisfied with representative authorities? Will the reform of the election legislation consider the interests of local self-government and what to do about it? To what extent is political corruption the norm? The discussion panel participants discussed all these issues with the Chairman of the Board of the International Renaissance Foundation and the Chairman of the Board and Coordinator of Political Programs of the OPORA Civic Network Olga Aivazovska.

Elections and political indifference of voters, use of administrative resources for “dirty game”, subventions for socio-economic development of territories, and problems with political parties in the regions – participants of the School spent the whole evening in an active dialogue and exchanged experiences and interesting cases on these topics.

Health care reform always raises many questions for people, especially in the regions, because it has started well not everywhere. Therefore, it is important to communicate to community leaders what changes are needed in the health care system and what can be done to save people on the ground – in the pandemic and beyond – and provide quality health services to community members.

Oleg Petrenko – the first head of the National Health Service of Ukraine (2018-2019), an independent director of strategic development in the medical network “Dobrobut”, an alumnus of the 2006 USPS program, told the participants about the beginning of the reform, the concept of health care development, and the importance of strong institutions. How health care is financed, what are the difficulties in carrying out the reform, and how people are fighting to keep unprofitable and inefficient hospitals – participants could talk about all this with the person who was at the origins of the reform.

Kateryna Bulavinova, a doctor, pediatric infectious disease specialist, and medical expert at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF Ukraine) in Ukraine, took the discussion to a more practical level. She told participants about the punctures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the maintenance and provision of hospitals on the ground, and medical infrastructure in general.

Why is the community the third pillar, and how have innovation, education, and entrepreneurship been the drivers of productivity growth? The answers to these questions were given by the founder of the proryv.in.ua think tank, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Institute of the city, the Minister of Economic Development and Trade (February-September 2014), Pavlo Sheremeta. Using the examples of the Eastern countries, he told how to move from constant stagnation to constant prosperity and explained the specifics of the development of the Ukrainian economy through the prism of culture and demography.

The discussion continued on whether there would be further damage to business from the pandemic and how the Ukrainian economy could catch up with its western neighbors. Hlib Vyshlinsky, Executive Director of the Center for Economic Strategy, explained the structural changes that have taken place since the start of quarantine and how the pandemic has affected the economy as a whole. He also spoke about the “Great Construction”, low level of investment, prospects for Ukrainian GDP growth, and the role of human capital in economic development.

How is the education reform going, and is the “New Ukrainian School” concept being implemented in the regions? What to do with schools? And what is more important – the quality of education or logistics of schools? We talked about all this and more with the Educational Ombudsman Sergii Gorbachov and the co-chair of the public association PARENTS SOS, an alumnus of the USPS 2016 program Alena Parfenova.

To ensure quality education, it is necessary to reorganize the educational network and establish communication with communities. Education is a large infrastructure system that is difficult to optimize due to several problems. One of them is the staffing problem. Often, principals or field officials are more preoccupied with solving infrastructure problems than managing the educational process. However, the situation has changed due to the pandemic. The beginning of quarantine drew the attention of educators to the need for changes in distance education and providing schools with high-speed Internet and technology. However, this is not enough to implement effective education management in communities.

The right to safe life and environment is enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine. And the topic of environmental protection is more relevant than ever, so this year’s program pays much attention to the development of local environmental policy and its integration into the community development strategy. The environmental discussion panel consisted of two dimensions: theoretical and practical. For the first of them responsible was Olena Maslyukivska, associate professor of ecology at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a 2008 alumnus of USPS, who told the participants about the most pressing environmental issues and how to prioritize the sequence of their solutions in communities properly.

In the more practical part of the discussion, the two experts shared their own cases on implementing change and improving the quality of the environment of their own cities. Artem Myrhorodskyi, CEO of GreenAge, CEO of BioBin, a 2007 alumnus of USPS, spoke about waste recycling and his successful experience of how a socially important business can not only benefit people but also be monetized. And Artem Romaniukov, the co-founder of Saveecobot, director of SaveDnipro, a 2018 alumnus of USPS, spoke about the problems he faced during the struggle for clean air in his hometown and how communities can improve local air quality on their own.

Why is it important to organize the space in which you live and how it affects people’s quality of life and consciousness, how to make “buildings for people, and not people for buildings”? Is there a connection between architecture and democracy? And how do aesthetics and architecture affect consciousness? Participants were able to talk about all this with the architect, Deputy Chairman of the Architectural Chamber of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, founder and CEO of the Architectural and Design Group Anna Kyrii, an alumnus of USPS 2016 program Anna Kyrii.

Ukraine inherited many authoritarian “political” buildings from the Soviet Union. Rebuilding the past for a new quality of the future, creating “transparent” institutions, and comfortable and aesthetic spaces for people, thereby raising the level of culture of citizens – a new symbolic task for all of Ukraine and communities in particular.

The legal capacity of a community is one of the fundamental aspects of its development. But how to strengthen it and give communities access to justice?

MPP (Oxon), lawyer, director-founder of the national system of free legal aid, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine (2012-2017), Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, and Chairman of the Board of Transparency International Ukraine Andriy Vyshnevsky told the participants about the concept of two types of justice, the impact of decentralization on access to justice and meeting the legal needs of citizens.

The level of dissatisfaction with legal needs in Ukraine is high. This is partly due to the fact that communities do not identify legal problems and ignore their solution. At the same time, unmet legal needs fuel the cycle of decline and slow down community development.

In order to develop democracy, it is necessary to involve citizens in the decision-making process. However, how can local governments become closer to the people in the digital age? The participants talked about this with the coordinator for digitization of the regions of the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP program implemented by the Eastern Europe Foundation, Serhiy Hunko. The expert told the participants how to change the process of providing services, digitize paperwork and why the digitalization of business and the state is important for public participation.

The second part of the discussion concerned more traditional tools that the Agency for Legislative Initiatives has long been “lobbying” in Ukraine. Maria Sokolova, an analyst at the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, shared the insights and mechanisms for conducting a social audit and a Town Hall Meeting with participants.

Social audit is an effective means of ensuring government accountability through the study of the opinion of the final recipients of the service or public policy. Simply put, it is a way to verify compliance with government obligations. Another tool introduced to the participants was the Town Hall Meeting – an informal public gathering of residents of a certain area. Discussed the mechanisms of holding meetings and their scenarios. And, of course, shared the experience of the meetings already held.

The first session of the School of Community Leaders was closed by Oleksandr Sushko, a Ukrainian political scientist and public figure, executive director of the International Renaissance Foundation, an expert in international relations and civil society development.

Democracy starts from the bottom. A mature democracy cannot be established without a stratum of people who have both values and practical knowledge of how to implement it. We need people who know how to work with people, gain trust and have managerial skills. Community leaders are just such people. Thanks to such leaders, people get a sense of involvement, and then a real democracy is formed. Real democracy is not to come and vote once every 5 years. It is to be a constant participant in a certain process, which forms the background of the state.

The answer to the question of whether Ukraine has chosen the right course is formed on the ground. Course on decentralization, on local self-government. And local leaders are the number one human resource for public administration at the national level. With these words, Oleksandr Sushko congratulated the participants on the completion of the first session.

This year we will continue to work with communities in the format of environmental mentoring. Each of the participating communities will receive a separate mentor to help them address pressing environmental issues.

Meanwhile, the selection of environmental mentors who will have separate training is underway.

Selection for the fourth School of Community Leaders is now opened! You can fill in the application form and apply for participation in the program from April 15 to May 10.

The School ща Community Leaders is a project designed to bring together local leaders from all regions of Ukraine and help them develop their communities. Decentralization reform has initiated an irreversible process of change. That is why it is now essential to strengthen Ukraine on the local level, to help new leaders from the regions to take responsibility and implement further changes.

The School of Community Leaders Program was launched in 2015 under the auspices of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.

During this time, we have results that prove the need for further work with communities:

• 3 programs of the School of Community Leaders have been conducted since 2015. 2 of them were dedicated to the preparation for the local elections.
• > 250 representatives of local self-government and civil society became Alumni.
• 48% of Alumni of the program of different years ran in the 2020 local elections. 40% of them won.

The School of Community Leaders 2021 will differ from the programs of previous years, responding to the challenges that communities from different regions of Ukraine face on a daily basis. Community issues cover a wide range – from safety and clean environment to problems with access to quality medicine and education. And we will work together to find solutions for all these problems.

This year’s training will focus not only on good governance skills, decentralization reform, and community participation tools. We plan to deepen our cooperation with communities and provide long-term mentoring to address the urgent needs of communities.

Special attention will be paid to environmental mentoring, during which program participants will learn more about environmental impact assessment for communities, adaptation to climate change, disposal of household and other waste. Issues related to environmental safety, access to medicine, and education will be explored in detail through public participation tools – Town Hall Meetings and social audit.

We encourage to apply people who:

1. are representatives of local self-government at all levels, heads of the amalgamated territorial communities, local activists, and volunteers;
2. have significant professional achievements and demonstrate leadership qualities;
3. take an active position in life and are ready to use the acquired knowledge for the benefit of society and community;
4. have trust and support of the community;
5. will be able to involve their community in an environmental mentoring program and work with an environmental consultant;
6. ready to work with the community using the tools learned during the training after completing the program.

The School of Community Leaders 2021 is planned to be held offline. However, due to quarantine restrictions, the program dates may change (participants will be notified in advance). Participation in the program is free, as the International Renaissance Foundation supports the project.

Approximate dates of the program:

More details of the program and answers to important questions about this year’s program are here. For any other questions, please contact the e-mail address info@usps.org.ua or the Facebook page of the USPS.

Lithuanian First Lady Diana Nausėdienė and Lithuanian Minister of Culture Simonas Kairys visited the TSEKH art Gallery, founder, and director of which is a USPS Alumnus Oleksandr Shchelushchenko (graduated in 2010).

The Ukrainian TSEKH art Gallery was founded 15 years ago. It is one of the most successful non-governmental cultural institutions of contemporary art in Ukraine. Meanwhile, this year, in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, the Tsekh Gallery Vilnius marks its 5th anniversary and is currently one of the largest private galleries in the country.

The First Lady of Lithuania and the Minister of Culture visited the exhibition dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the TSEKH art Gallery, which presents essential works by 11 artists from Ukraine, Lithuania, and the United States.

For the Ukrainian School of Political Studies, culture is the foundation of public policy. USPS and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives are pleased to have the opportunity to support Alumni on their path and help promote Ukrainian art in the world. We wish the TSEKH art Gallery new achievements!

Special thanks to the Embassy of Lithuania in Ukraine for letting this meeting happen!

After the quarantine, TSEKH art Gallery invites everyone to visit the project “Spirits: 15 years of endurance”. Art is fascinating!

Here you can see the works presented at the exhibition.

On March 1, the Ukrainian School of Political Studies opened the selection for the 2021 program. Applications will be accepted from March 1 to 21.

The Ukrainian School of Political Studies is one of the most successful educational and network projects in Ukraine. USPS belongs to a network of schools of political studies established under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The Ukrainian School was established in 2005 as a joint project of the Council of Europe and the Agency for Legislative Initiatives.

In 16 years, we have brought together more than 500 successful leaders from various fields – civil servants, lawyers, businessmen, scientists, politicians, journalists, representatives of creative professions, and public figures. The Ukrainian School of Political Studies is not just about studying, we are creating a Community of like-minded people united by common values and a mission to develop a democratic Ukraine.

If you share the School’s values and want to join the largest Community of value-oriented leaders in Ukraine – be sure to apply.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PEOPLE WHO:

1. have significant professional achievements in the field of political, social, scientific, creative, and entrepreneurial activity, journalism, politics, jurisprudence;
2. take an active civil position and can apply the acquired knowledge in their daily activities;
3. are citizens of Ukraine under the age of 40 who have higher education; if your age exceeds the requirements, we encourage you to apply in any case;
4. knowledge of foreign languages is an additional advantage.

YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT THE TERMS OF ADMISSION AND COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM HERE.

This project aims to promote peace and stability in Ukraine by supporting the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) to play its central role in formulating, implementing, monitoring and reforming security policy.

The main stakeholders of the project took part in the event. In particular, the event was attended by representatives of the two parliamentary committees of the Verkhovna Rada, with which the Agency and the PArliamentary Centre will work closely during the project – members of the Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee and the Law Enforcement Committee – as well as other Ukrainian MPs, Canadian MPs, H.E. Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine and the H.E. Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada.

During the event, the participants expressed hope for productive cooperation between the Canadian and Ukrainian sides for the sake of achieving peace, security, and stability in Ukraine.

Dmytro Razumkov, Chairperson of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, noted that issues of national security have become one of the key issues on the agenda of society and the state in Ukraine.

Olena Kondratiuk, Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stressed the importance of taking into account the gender aspect in the reform of the defense sector. The speaker noted that Ukraine has consistently implemented the National Action Plan for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 “Women, Peace & Security”, which is part of the government’s strategy. The parliament of the previous convocation passed a number of laws that opened more opportunities for women to exercise in the military.

In turn, Larisa Galadza, H.E. Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, is confident that the Canadian experience will help Ukraine in defense sector reform. In addition, she noted the special role of parliament in the reform process.

Andriy Shevchenko, H.E. Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, also believes that the project “Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector in Ukraine” will have a positive impact for both parties:

Tom Cormier, CEO of the Parliamentary Centre, spoke about the mission of the Canadian Parliamentary Centre and stressed the importance of helping the parliaments in democratic countries.

Svitlana Matviienko, Executive Director of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, noted that the idea of ​​the project has been developed together with representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine so that the project would be of maximum benefit to the parliament of this and future convocations.

Oleksandr Zavitnevych, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Security, Defense and Intelligence, and Denys Monastyrskyi, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, also expressed their expectations regarding the project.

Denys Monastyrskyi, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement, also stressed the importance of strengthening parliamentary control as one of the levers in the reform process.

A colleague of Ukrainian parliamentarians from Canada, Yvan Baker, MP, Chairperson of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, said that Canada has always supported Ukraine, especially in matters of security and sovereignty of Ukraine.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, MP, Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union, Member of the Interparliamentary Relations Group with Canada, also noted that Ukraine needs substantial expert support from the Canadian side to continue the path of comprehensive reform.

Anita Vandenbeld, Member of the House of Commons of Canada, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defense of Canada, said that cooperation within the project is very important because in this way Canadian and Ukrainian MPs will be able to share best practices bilaterally. She also called for a gender component to be included in the discussions on defense sector reform, as the inclusion of women in the dialogue could help to look at the problem from a different angle and find new solutions.

At the end of the opening event, the Director of the Analytical Department of the Agency Oleksandr Zaslavskyi and the Director of the Partnerships and Program Development of the Parliamentary Centre Ivo Balinov spoke in detail about the essence, stages, and components of the project “Parliamentary Accountability for the Security Sector in Ukraine”.

In turn, Ivo Balinov noted that the Agency and the Parliamentary Centre are ready to cooperate with other projects that Canada is implementing in Ukraine in the security and defense sector.

On December 8, as part of the World Forum for Democracy, the Ukrainian School of Political Studies held an online discussion “If the State Fails: Public Participation in Environmental Policy”.

The World Forum for Democracy is an integral part of the USPS program. Every year, in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe holds a large-scale discussion on a particular issue. However, this time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Forum for Democracy was moved online. But this does not mean that the discussions have stopped and the problems have ended. This time the Forum will last for the next 12 months, during which participants will try to answer one question – can democracy save the environment?

In the online discussion from the Ukrainian School of Political Studies participated civic activists who have created large-scale environmental projects for Ukraine and government officials. Together, they tried to decide how the state and the public should interact to solve environmental problems. The conversation was moderated by Denys Kazanskyi, Journalist and environmental activist.

Experts agreed that today, unfortunately, environmental initiatives in Ukraine replace the functions of the state.

According to the speaker, environmental initiatives in Ukraine are similar to startups. Their goal is to create a certain public good. And society must decide how to support these organizations to ensure their sustainability.

In turn, Maksym Borodin, Environmental activist and member of the Mariupol City Council, spoke about his environmental protest experience in the struggle for clean air with industrial enterprises in Mariupol. Due to the pressure, Mariupol residents managed to force large industrial facilities to start modernizing their equipment. However, the speaker is sure that protests are a temporary means of influence.

The next speaker, Artem Romanyukov, is USPS alumnus and co-founder of the environmental chatbot Saveecobot, which already has more than 1 million active users. After several years of working to make it easier to breathe in his hometown, Dnipro, the speaker is convinced that environmental activities should start with education.

Lyubov Kolosovska, co-founder and director of the organization “Batteries, surrender!” (a project that collects batteries and organizes the recycling process) and USPS alumna, noted the importance of the financial component of environmental activism.

According to the expert, if the polluter can simply buy off, it is the avoidance of responsibility because responsibility relies entirely on the state. Instead, the state should delegate responsibility and authority to other entities, such as garbage-producing businesses, so that they can contribute to solving the problem themselves. The state should only control this process.

Head of Ukraine’s state ecological inspection service (2019-2020) and Head of the “Environmental Alternative” political party Yegor Firsov, in contrast, is convinced that neither democracy nor activism can solve environmental issues.

Lesya Vasylenko, Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management and USPS Parliamentary Program alumna, noted that synergy, coordination, and cooperation are needed to solve environmental problems.

Oleksandr Marikovsky, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management and USPS alumnus, also participated in the discussion. According to him, the fight against environmental problems depends on values.

In turn, Oleksiy Ryabchyn, Adviser to the Minister of Environmental Protection, Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister on European Integration, and USPS alumnus, shared his experience of cooperation between civil society and the state in environmental issues.

The discussion participants concluded that it is necessary to look for new ways of interaction between environmental activists and the state to achieve results not only through pressure, protests, demands, and crowdfunding initiatives. The state must provide support to civic environmental organizations and take over the functions of monitoring and control over Ukraine’s environmental situation, as no one else in the country has the authority to do so.

What are the authorities doing to help civil society? Are government policies working in this direction?

During the forum “Dialogues on Reforms: Towards Vilnius” within #URC2020, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives Uliana Poltavets moderated an expert discussion on how civil society should develop further. Despite the illusion that Ukraine has a strong civil society, the facts show that only 18.6% of citizens (according to a poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation) participate in NGOs’ activities, which is much lower than in European countries.

For the development of civil society, there is a National Strategy for the Promotion of Civil Society in Ukraine for 2016-2020. However, we in the Agency for Legislative Initiatives together with the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine last year analyzed its implementation. We concluded that the strategy is far from perfect. In particular:

• there are no clear definitions of the term “civil society”,
• tasks are vaguely worded,
• there are no criteria for evaluating the implementation of these tasks,
• there is no allocated funding,
• regional plans are not in line with the strategy.

The results of the study are fully available here.

The briefing on the development of civil society prepared for the Vilnius Conference also addresses the problems of the legal framework of CSOs and their financial stability, harassment of public activists and improper investigation of crimes against them, lack of dialogue with the authorities, coordination of the process.

What to do with all this – read in the brief.