MP: Parliament may extend martial law till August.
According to Yaroslav Zheleznyak, MP, Holos faction, Ukraine’s Parliament may prolong the martial law and mobilization starting from May 19 May until mid-August 2023.
USAID RADA: Next Generation Activity helped Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) arrange training for MPs and their aids on legislation approximation.
On April 18-20, Program conducted a pilot training, “Approximation to EU legislation in Ukraine: practical aspects for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” in cooperation with the PRS training center. The training helped 25 participants, including MPs, their aids and VRU, get acquainted with the legal system of the EU and the integration acquis, requirements, and procedures for joining the EU. Participants got a chance to try writing draft acts aimed at the adoption of various types of acts of EU law, impact assessment, and drawing up compliance tables. RANG arranged a study visit to Vienna for VRU staff to learn from best practices and implement them in Ukraine’s parliament. On April 19-21, the first part of a study visit in Vienna, organized by the RANG, occurred. The 12 VRU staffers had an opportunity to learn more about the work of the Austrian Parliament, particularly about Committees’ interactions with MPs and the functions of the Research Services. VRU Delegation met with Mr. Dossi, Secretary-General of the Austrian Parliament, Mr. Wintoniak, Deputy Secretary-General of the Austrian Parliament, and had a fruitful discussion with heads of the Committees and Units, Representatives of the supporting group for Ukraine.
USAID RADA: Next Generation Activity arranged working meetings between Ukrainian MPs and members of the UK Parliament.
On April 17, RANG facilitated the meeting between Craig Whittaker (Member of the UK Parliament for Cardel Valley) and Victoria Hryb (MP for District 105 in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s Parliament). The meeting helped establish a close partnership regarding MP-constituent cooperation. Participants agreed to work on the date of the study visit of the Ukrainian MP to the UK, preliminary in June 2023. On April 19, WFD conducted a meeting between Tony Lloyd (Member of the UK Parliament for Rochdale) and Halyna Vasylchenko (MP for District 118 in the Lviv region, Ukraine’s Parliament). A possibility of a study visit to the UK was also discussed.
Program helped VRU staff improve their skills in presentations.
On April 19, USAID RADA:Next Generation facilitated a training session on graphic design trends and tools for the employees of the VRU Secretariat, VRU committees, “Holos Ukrainy” media outlet, the Parliamentary TV channel “RADA,” and the VRU Educational Center. Fifteen participants participated in the event; all were responsible for communications activities in their day-to-day work at VRU structural units and departments. During the 2-hour training session, they had the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills on the following issues: practical tools and techniques to design effective presentations; overview of PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Canva software functions to create a presentation from scratch; real-time designing of PowerPoint slides.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the training for the participants, they completed a short online survey before and after the event. The questions were directly related to the content covered at the training. Participants demonstrated a 31% increase in their level of knowledge.
Program arranged a meeting of MPs to promote best practices of communication with voters during wartime.
On April 21, RANG arranged a session for 34 MPs on the issues dedicated to the military personnel. During the event, MPs Solomia Bobrovska, Volodymyr Zakharchenko, as well as teams of MPs Halyna Vasylchenko, Yurii Koryavchenkov, Olena Kryvoruchkina shared and discussed with other MPs and MPs aides the MPs their experience in the area of protection of rights of the military personnel. Participants discussed the main challenges in the sphere of implementation of the rights of military personnel; exchanged experience of practices regarding the realization of the rights of military personnel; outlined the ways of solving the legal problems of military personnel as well as determined the proposals for joint interaction to improve the system of providing services to military personnel. The event resulted in a coordination plan to organize a public forum to discuss the current problems and solutions with the stakeholders.