Ukraine is seeking to become a nation ruled by law, where human rights are respected and freedom of speech and press ensured, in which government policy and activity reflects the needs and wishes of an informed citizenry, and to whom representatives are responsive and officials are accountable.
Access to Justice and Legal Empowerment Project in Ukraine
This program seeks to improve access to justice in the areas of employment, healthcare, and property rights by increasing the availability of pro bono legal services and the impact of legal and advocacy organizations in Ukraine. A three-tiered specialized advocacy network, which connects law school clinics, advocacy NGOs and private attorneys, will be built under the project. The advocacy networks will provide public consultations and legal representation, and run public information campaigns about the legal rights of citizens. By operating an intra-network referral system they will create a national legal sector clearinghouse that connects private sector lawyers with clients in need of legal assistance, and provide quality and timely assistance to vulnerable underrepresented groups.
Read more about Access to Justice and Legal Empowerment Project in Ukraine.
Civil Society and Media
The Ukraine National Initiatives to Enhance Reforms (UNITER) project works to strengthen the organizational capacity of leading Ukrainian NGOs to better represent citizens and drive the reform agenda through more effective advocacy, monitoring and activism. This includes assisting NGOs in the autonomous region of Crimea. In addition, UNITER works to improve the civil society legislative framework and enabling environment for NGOs. The program addresses the financial viability and technical capabilities of leading NGOs.
USAID’s Strengthening Independent Media in Ukraine (U-Media) program aims to enhance the professionalism of journalists to better perform its oversight and public service role. The project also assists with improving media legislation and supporting media sector NGOs in their efforts to better represent the professional interests of an independent media.
Read more about Strengthening Civil Society Organizations program and Independent Media.
Legislative Functions and Processes
The Indiana University Parliamentary Development Project (IUPDP) is assisting the Verkhovna Rada in adopting legislation, and establishing processes and institutions that are benchmarks of progressive transitional parliaments. Program activities include: support for more effective and transparent legislative and policy decision-making; training in policy analysis; coordinating with the executive and legislative branches to improve legislative policy development, as well as problem resolution mechanisms within selected ministries. The project provides support to Ukraine’s Parliament in becoming a more effective counterweight to executive power and also works on improving the legislative process and oversight of parliament over the executive branch. IUPDP facilitates access to the legislative processes by involving citizen organizations in parliamentary committee hearings and other activities of the parliament.
Read more about Legislative Policy Development Program.
Political Competition
The focus of this program is to enable political parties to better represent citizens’ interests at the sub-national level. The program also expands linkages among political parties and civic groups to increase public demand for better representation of citizens’ interests. This includes training programs for political party activists and local elected officials to interact with civic groups and citizens. The program is implemented by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES).
Read more about Political Process Program implemented by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI).
Rule of Law
The program is promoting the rule of law by supporting the judicial reform process, increasing the transparency and accountability of the judiciary, and promoting public awareness of the judicial system. Specific activities include training for judges and court staff; assistance to legal drafting initiatives; introducing modern court administration and case management techniques; developing new procedures for selecting and disciplining judges; community studies to promote court improvements, and public education campaigns.
Program activities are being implemented in close cooperation with Ukrainian partners, particularly, the Ministry of Justice, the National Commission for Strengthening Democracy and the Rule of Law, relevant Verkhovna Rada committees, the Supreme Court, the State Judicial Administration, the High Qualifications Commission, the Council of Judges, the Academy of Judges, the High Administrative Court, the High Council of Justice and the National Independent Judicial Association, and civil society organizations active in the rule of law field.
Read more about Ukraine: Rule of Law Project.
The BUILD Initiative - Building Ukrainian Independence and Lasting Democracy
In partnerships with Ukrainian higher education institutions, this USAID project works to incorporate democratic principles and elements of an adversarial legal system into university law curricula, which is necessary to move Ukraine closer to EU standards. The project conducts adversarial legal training for university students, faculty, and reform-minded professionals to enhance their legal skills, such as persuasion, fact analysis, team building, collaboration, and advocacy.
Read more about The BUILD Initiative.