Vekhovna Rada conducts IPTAC Coordination meeting
26 February 2020, 18:17
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine saw this day a regular International Parliamentary Technical Assistance (IPTAC) Coordination meeting.
In the course of the meeting, there was presented an array of training and awareness-raising materials elaborated by the Verkhovna Rada Education Centre.
In his welcoming speech, the Chief of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat (Chief of Staff) Viacheslav Shtuchnyi underlined that despite the relatively short period of time the center has notched up a whole series of positive achievements. According to the chief, the centre per se does constitute an inherent element of both the Secretariat’s work and the Verkhovna Rada’s one upon the whole.
On this account, the chief of staff called on international partners of the Ukrainian parliament to submit their proposals regarding participation in the work of the Education Centre, the VRU Secretariat and the Verkhovna Rada itself, provided there are appropriate programmes or grants. He also spoke in favour of extended possibilities of the Education Centre.
Ihor Kohut, CoP of USAID RADA, noted that the establishment and functioning of the Education Center is a unique amalgam of desire and opportunities. Both VRU’s leadership and the secretariat always longed for such a schoolchildren-focused educational body, aiming to up-build the whole system at a later time. Ihor Kohut then observed that parliamentarians are of great interest in conducting regional educational and training events.
The head of the centre Maryna Tereshchuk briefed the conferees on how the center works, having dwelt upon its programmes specially tailored to three age brackets – for kids of 5-7, 8-11 forms and for students as well. Speaking about the centre’s future plans, she also said that the Education Center is now about to begin drafting its strategic development plan for the coming five years.
Iryna Ivaniuk, the deputy chairperson of the board of NGO "Educational Policy Development Agency", reported about the challenges and opportunities that had emerged during the creation of a network of interactive parliamentary educational centers for pupils and students.
Mariia Savina, an expert from the EU-UNDP Parliamentary Reform Office, shed light upon the Comprehensive Parliamentary Education Programme.
During the meeting, there were ample discussions and speeches of representatives of international technical assistance programmes and projects.
The debaters then paid a visit to the Education Centre of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, where they got to know how it works.