Even prior to the establishment of ICDG, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government had been engaged in Ukraine. The Institute helped establish a university-based government training and development organization in Transcarpathia. In addition, ICDG has managed the community partnership between Athens, Georgia, and Kamianets-Podilsky, Ukraine. ICDG also has trained the trainers of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's four regional governmental training centers.

The following projects represent some of ICDG's most salient work in Ukraine.

U.S.-Ukraine Foundation Regional Training Centers

ICDG was the channel through which CVIOG developed a high-quality certificate program for local government managers in Ukraine through the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation's Regional Training Centers (RTCs). ICDG assisted with curriculum, course, and faculty development in the creation of a joint RTC-CVIOG certificate program.

As an integral part of the program's development, ICDG

• consulted with the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and RTCs on the curriculum for a joint certificate program offered by RTCs for local government managers throughout Ukraine,
• assisted in the development of elective courses and made recommendations for core course outlines and materials,
• hosted lead trainers for consultation and practical internships, in which trainers had the opportunity to develop and teach core courses required for the certificate program, and
• assisted in the overall implementation of the joint certificate program, including
• participating in (e.g., coteaching and observing) trial offerings of key courses to obtain participant feedback,
• providing advice based on its experience, marketing, managing, and evaluation of the certificate program, and
• certifying the quality of the core courses for a joint RTC-CVIOG certificate.

U.S.-Ukraine Community Partnerships Project

The U.S.-Ukraine Community Partnership for Local Government Training and Education Project (CPP) was initiated in 1997 as a three-year, USAID-funded project providing public administration education and training to local governments in Ukraine. As the program was extended, ICDG managed the successful partnership between the unified government of Athens–Clarke County, home to the University of Georgia, and Kamianets-Podilsky, Ukraine. The two governments were linked because of a significant similarity: Athens and Kamianets-Podilsky are "university towns" of similar sizes.

The main goals of the program were to establish mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships to promote improved local government practices and to develop a critical mass of knowledgeable and progressive-minded individuals working for change in Ukraine.

Program activities focused on an exchange of local government leaders from Athens–Clarke County and Kamianets-Podilsky. For example, mayors, city councilors, economic development specialists, public information officers, historic preservationists, and others have traveled between the two partners.

USAID Institutional Partnerships Project

Utilizing their USAID Institutional Partnerships Project (IPP) grant, the University of Georgia and Uzhgorod National University developed the Center for Public Administration Reform and Assistance (CPARA), a university-based resource for officials and managers of city and regional governments in Ukraine. CPARA offered high-quality, low-cost training, technical assistance, applied research and how-to publications—all of which were based on the land-grant tradition of major U.S. universities—for regional and local governments in the Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine.

These activities were so successful that CPARA was granted institutional status. As a division of Uzhgorod National University, the newly created Institute for Public Administration and Regional Administration (IPARD) gained recognition from the Ukrainian Ministry of Education.

Throughout the partnership, eight faculty members from Uzhgorod National University were trained at the University of Georgia to become associates for IPARD. As part of the training component, ICDG staffers developed and hosted more than 50 seminars for employees of local governments throughout Transcarpathia. Once Uzhgorod National University faculty members become associates, they provide training and consulting services to local government personnel and author numerous IPARD publications.

The partnership spawned the most successful IPP program in the training of public administrators, a vital need for postcommunist Ukraine.

Other Activities

ICDG has launched many other activities in Ukraine. For example, it has cohosted an international conference on the future of local governments in Uzhgorod. It also has organized environmental policy and management training for local government officials.

[Outreach Magazine coverage of the Ukraine program, Winter 2007]

[Photos from the Ukraine program]