Coordinating efforts to develop Education Center of Verkhovna Rada

On July 5, the USAID RADA: Next Generation Program held a coordination meeting with partners, the leadership of the VRU Secretariat, and representatives of the VRU Education Center who had participated in study visits to the United Kingdom. During the meeting, the participants planned how to implement the best international practices of parliamentary education in Ukraine.

The RADA: Next Generation Program builds the institutional capacity of the VRU Education Center to raise awareness of the work of the Parliament and the principles of parliamentarism among Ukrainians.

The Program, together with its partners from the American Councils for International Education and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, organized two study visits to the UK for the VRU Education Center:

1. in April, the Ukrainian delegation established a partnership with the UK Parliamentary Education Center and learned about their best practices in implementing civic parliamentary education;
2. in June, the Ukrainian delegation studied the implementation of the Project for Teachers, which the UK Parliamentary Education Center conducts within the Parliamentary Ambassadors Program.

The invitation for the VRU Education Center to participate in the training project for teachers within the Parliamentary Ambassadors Program was made possible by cooperation with the UK Parliamentary Education Center during the first study visit in April.

Participation allowed us to get acquainted with the structure, selection criteria, teaching materials, and other aspects of organizing work with teachers at the UK Parliamentary Education Center.

Olena Kostyniuk, Head of the VRU Education Center, said that the experience gained helped to develop the idea of a similar program in Ukraine and presented the first draft concept of the Parliamentary Ambassadors Program in the VRU. The RADA: Next Generation Program and partners discussed the prospects for implementing this initiative.