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1996:
THE PYLYP ORLYK INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY
Established in 1991 by the Foundation, POID continues to be an important source of information and support to reform-minded Ukrainians throughout the country, achieving the Foundation's purpose in establishing a permanent and professional resource of information on democracy. Working with an ever growing circle of policy-makers and non-governmental organizations to promote the development of free-market democracy in Ukraine, POID was supported by the Eurasia Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in 1996. The Institute is led by Director Markian Bilynskyj. He is assisted by Valya Telychenko, a long-time POID staffer from Kyiv, as an Assistant Director for Programs and Institute Relations, and John Kramarczuk, a native Minnesotan, as an Assistant Director for Administration.
Requests for Information
One of the major activities of the Institute is responding to information requests from policy-makers in Ukraine that help advance democracy building and free-market reform. Requests are generally from members of the Rukh, Derzhavnis't (Statehood), and Reform blocs in the Parliament; Ministries of Foreign Relations, Minority and Migration, and Environment; and Ukrainian journalists who seek information on subjects such as U.S. perspectives on events in Ukraine or Russia and the basic elements of democracy.
West: Window on Ukraine
This weekly publication is produced by the Orlyk Institute to provide Ukrainian policy-makers with a Western perspective on events in Ukraine. It contains contemporaneous translations of news articles from major Western papers, reports on key Congressional hearings, and White House statements. Windows has become very popular, growing from an original circulation of 40 to over 1,000, reaching policy-makers, media, and nongovernmental leaders.
Bulletin
The Bulletin -- a daily news briefing on American media coverage of Ukrainian affairs prepared principally for the Office of the President, the Rada leadership, and select ministers - continues to be published. This briefing consists of excerpts from newspaper reports, transcripts of TV and radio interviews and special time-urgent memoranda that might assist the recipients to anticipate developments in Washington.
Update on Ukraine
A periodic analysis of political trends and events in Ukraine, such as elections, Parliamentary votes, Presidential Decrees, and relations between various Parliamentary factions, is written by Institute Director Markian Bilynskyj.
Roundtables
An important strategy for broadening policy debates in Kyiv is providing a forum for substantive discussions. The Orlyk Institute has responded to this need by hosting roundtable discussions that bring together experts from the West, Ukrainian policy-makers, academics, and NGO representatives for off the record conversations on current policy issues. The audience is always tailored to the current issue -- rather than the same group for every discussion -- and kept small to encourage participation.
Topics for the 1996 roundtables included:
- a discussion of minority rights in the Crimea,
- developing models of interaction between NGOs and government structures.
Translations
POID translates books and articles to provide policy-makers access to information and concepts underlying a free-market democracy. 1996 highlights included:
- Distribution of 10,000 copies of Charles Epping's A Guide to the World Economy.
- Requests for Bernard Siegan's Drafting a Constitution for a Nation or Republic Emerging Into Freedom increased significantly in 1996.
2018:
Our Mission Statement
The Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy (POID) aims to help revive Ukrainian democratic traditions and to assist in the consolidation of a free-market democracy in Ukraine.
How Do We Accomplish This?
The Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy serves as a source of information and facilitates the research and development of public policy in six key areas essential to democratic state-building:
• national government;
• national security;
• human rights;
• environmental protection;
• local government;
• economic reforms.
The Institute’s History and the Present
“The policymakers who legislate and execute the wishes of the people must have access to the knowledge and information without which democracy cannot flourish. The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation fully understands that Ukraine must choose its own path. Our mission is to make available to you the wealth of our experience, to open up the parameters of your debate, and to improve the level of mutual understanding between our two nations. The Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy is our principal medium for this undertaking.”
Nadia Komarnycky-McConnell
Founder and Board Member of the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy,
President of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
The POID was established in 1991 to conduct political research and provide information in the area of strengthening democracy and the development of a market economy. The principal recipients of these services were young democratic forces represented in the Verkhovna Rada – the Ukrainian Parliament of what was then Soviet Ukraine. In 1993, the POID was officially registered as a local, independent, non-profit, social and political, information and research organization. The Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy has expanded its scope of cooperation to include the government, the Presidential Administration, the Constitutional Court, NGOs and the media.
Since 1995, the POID has been placing significant emphasis on the development of democracy at the local level. Several projects are dedicated to issues of accountability and transparency in local government and local economic development. The projects are supported and financed by technical assistance organizations that include the Pew Foundation, Mott Foundation, Westminster Foundation, PAUCI, MATRA, TACIS, and, most recently, the World Bank.
Regional Training Centers
In 1997, the POID in cooperation with the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation started implementing a three-year USAID-funded Community Partnerships Project for Training and Education. The POID identified and selected 18 Ukrainian partnership cities, as well as established and staffed five regional training centers (RTCs), whose mission is to train and educate Ukrainian local government officials. Today, the RTCs work with approximately 2000 cities, towns and villages, including every city officially classified under oblast and regional subordination. Most workshop participants come from smaller cities and towns, where they have limited access to practical information.
The RTCs offer unique and attractive services for Ukrainian cities, as their trainings and workshops are not only conducted by foreign experts who provide innovative techniques, but most importantly, by experienced Ukrainian trainers whose workshops are based on local examples.
Today, the RTC network’s educational activities span the country:
• Western Ukraine Regional Training Center – Lviv;
• Central Ukraine Regional Training Center – Cherkasy;
• Southern Ukraine Regional Training Center – Kherson;
• Eastern Ukraine Regional Training Center – Donetsk.
Our Activities
• conducting political research and providing information related to the strengthening of democracy and the development of a market economy;
• developing democracy at a local level: accountability and transparency in local government;
• participating actively in the areas of local government and local economic development;
• analyzing the state of affairs and developing recommendations on minority rights and language issues in Ukraine, as well as sources of regional conflicts in neighboring countries;
• producing and publishing special literature on strengthening democracy and economic development.
Center for Local Democracy »
In the Media
The work of the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy has attracted the attention of the Ukrainian and world media. The Institute’s experts produce materials on a regular basis, give interviews and commentaries to such well-known information agencies, TV and radio companies, print and electronic media as: The Guardian, The London Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, CBC (Canada), AFP (France), ABS (Australia), The Globe and Mail, The Ukrainian Weekly, the First National TV Channel of Ukraine, “1 + 1” and “Inter”, “Era” TV and radio company, “channel 5”, Ukraine’s radio – 1, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (Weekly Mirror).