“Tasty Bread!”

LVIV, UKRAINE – The “Tasty Bread” project focused on improving the quality of Ukrainian bread production and raising baker’s income. Over 800 Ukrainian bakers were trained by their Polish counterparts in new bread baking technologies. During a series of professional workshops, trainings and seminars organized by the Lviv-based Third Legion Baking Company and the Polish Association of Bakers, baking industry representatives from across Ukraine became familiar with new baking technologies, recipes and methods for bread baking and innovative business practices. This new technology was shared among baking companies in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Simferopol, Novolynsk, Rivne, Slavutych, Zhytomyr, and other Ukrainian cities.
 
Impact:
 
      Ukrainian bakers opened three new bakeries in Lviv, Zhvirka, and Truskavets.
 
      The Association of Private Bakeries in the Lviv Region has been officially registered and is now operating on behalf of its 25 plus members.
 
    450 bakers improved their business practices.

Eastern Ukrainian Journalists Focus on Poland’s EU Accession

The Donetsk Youth Debate Center (Donetsk, Ukraine) in partnership with the St. Maximilian M. Kolbe´s House for Reconciliation and Meetings (Gdansk, Poland) implemented a project to increase Ukrainian public awareness of the EU accession process in Poland and stimulate media interest in Ukraine to cover those issues.  Participating journalists came from Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Lugansk.
 
Twelve media representatives including five print media, four television and one radio journalist visited Gdansk and Gdynia to follow the national media campaign prior to the EU accession referendum in Poland.  The group visited the newsrooms of Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik Baltycki, and Nasze Miasto.pl. While observing the voting at one of the polling stations, the PAUCI supported journalists interviewed Lech Walesa, Solidarity leader and the first President of Poland.
 
Impact:
 
       Thirteen newspaper articles, two publications in the electronic media, ten television news segments and four radio programs were produced as a result of this project. Media circulation and regional market penetration exceeded 570,000 copies in newsprint alone.
 
    Twelve journalists improved their professional skills in reporting on EU expansion issues and studied the role of independent media in shaping public opinion.

Agency for Social Communication: The AIDS Bus Drives Home AIDS Awareness

In an innovative effort to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, PAUCI partner The Foundation for Social Communication of Warsaw, Poland, teamed up with Lviv, Ukraine’s Avante Charity Foundation to complete a 1,000 kilometer AIDS Bus tour of the Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian frontier region.  The campaign lasted ten days and covered the regions of Lublin, Lviv, and Brest, targeting truck drivers, customs officials and hotel and gas station employees in this tri-nation border region.
 
 
Impact:
 
       The AIDS Bus initiated over 5,000 contacts in 27 locations and distributed thousands of brochures, posters, stickers, and other useful preventative information.
 
      Surveys conducted during and following the tour revealed that lack of knowledge about AIDS/HIV is widespread among patrons of this sensitive border region.  Most polled were simply unaware of the epidemic’s significance and prevention methods.

Regional Strategic Planning Handbook Translated

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, UKRAINE – In partnership with Lublin, Poland-based Island of Hope Association, The Business Initiatives Foundation (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) translated, adapted and published what is considered to be one of the leading Polish handbooks on regional strategic planning.
 
ü      Under a PAUCI grant, a Polish-Ukrainian expert team adapted the “Island of Hope” handbook in order to make this new resource for strategic planning available to Ukrainian communities.  The Polish authors organized two public presentations of “Island of Hope” in Ivano-Frankivsk and in Kharkiv.  The program produced and distributed fifteen hundred copies (1,000 handbooks and 500 CDs) to local government officials, regional development agencies, consulting companies and universities throughout Ukraine.
 
Impact:
 
      The publication encouraged participation of non-government institutions and business associations in regional planning.  The Ivano-Frankivsk oblast administration invited the Ukrainian project team to participate in the development of regional strategies for several local communities.
 
       The publication became a useful tool for other consultants and trainers who work with Ukrainian officials on improving their management sills. 
 
      The implementation of successful regional strategic planning will improve the investment and business climate and support long-term economic growth and job creation.

An Innovative Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention in Schools

A cross-border project between The School of Health (Uzhgorod, Ukraine) and The Podkarpatskie Association of Training for Teachers – PODN (Rzeszow, Poland) introduced Zakarpattia health professionals to new and innovative methods to conduct HIV/AIDS awareness programs for students at secondary schools, vocational schools, institutes and universities.  The project targeted the cities of Uzhgorod, Mukachevo, Khyst, Berehovo, Vynohradovo, Svaliava, and Irshava and the 300,000 families residing in the region. 
 
Impact:
 
      The program provided 10,000 students with HIV/AIDS prevention information.
 
          Participants distributed 3,000 brochures on HIV/AIDS prevention to students.
 
         40 teachers, medical personnel, journalists and local government officials of Zakarpattia learned innovative methods of HIV/AIDS prevention.
 
            A survey of health awareness of Polish and Ukrainian students in the neighboring regions identified sources of information about HIV, the attitude of youth towards people living with HIV and the levels of risky behavior in both countries. 
 
 The Heads of the Public Health departments of Zakarpattia and Podkarpatske signed an Agreement of Cooperation expressing a desire to create a network of European Schools of Health in their respective regions.
 
                    Polish partners declared an interest in assisting Zakarpattia schools for children with hearing and   speech impairments and in transferring Internet-based teaching methodologies to Ukraine.

Setting New Standards for Service in Lviv:

The Association for Lviv Tourism Development (Lviv, Ukraine) in partnership with The Polish Hotels Association (Krakow, Poland) worked together to develop a new quality standard for hotel service.  Based on customer satisfaction, they developed this standard in accordance with the new Law on Tourism and EU standards of service recommended by Polish experts.    
 
Impact:
 
      28 hotels and restaurants improved the quality of their service as measured through a customer satisfaction survey and service assessment.
 
      The project increased hotel manager awareness of ISO and EU standard benchmarks and expectations for hotels. 
 
      Professionals from Poland and Ukraine provided consultations to hotel directors on how to improve the level of their services.
 
      The participating hotels recognized the importance of professional training for entry and mid-career personnel.
 
      The participating hotels created the professional Association of Lviv Hotels to continue this work.
 
      Hotel managers obtained a practical handbook, “Hotel Services,” which was published in Ukrainian to assist managers in their daily work.
 
      Lviv Oblast Tourism and Resort Department, impressed with the project, provided financial support to improve a hotel standard for the Truskavets and Morshyn area resorts.  The local press covered this project in various publications.  

Referendum Issues and Public Awareness of the European Union

The Foundation Nowy Staw and the Ukrainian Center for Public Youth Organizations of Volyn “Our Matter” (Lutsk, Ukraine) conducted a program to increase Ukrainian public awareness of EU integration issues.  The project shared Poland’s experience with the European Union Referendum process with Ukraine and aimed to support the pro-European community in Volyn.  Twenty-five young Ukrainians from Volyn, including fifteen journalists, participated in a four-day workshop and six-day study visit to Poland during the Polish EU-referendum. Participants observed how advocates and opponents to Polish EU accession ran their campaigns and discussed how to improve EU debate in Ukraine.
 
Impact:
 
     200 Ukrainian participants learned about the Polish-EU accession process and initiated public discussions about closer Ukrainian integration with the EU in the Volyn region.
 
    Volyn regional media produced over 80 EU-referendum related articles.
 
    Participants initiated new Polish-Ukrainian cross-border programs and launched a new regional cooperation website: www.euromixbug.org.
 
      Volyn residents created several secondary school-based European Clubs.
 
      The project strengthened cooperation between the students of Lublin Catholic University and Volyn University.
 
    Further cooperation between project partners will continue through the newly formed Information European Center in Lutsk.

Sharing Lessons on Governance and EU Integration in Crimea

The Democratic Association East (Warsaw, Poland) and The Foundation for Crimea Revival (Bakhchysaray, Ukraine) provided a unique opportunity for local Crimean officials to learn first-hand about Poland’s EU integration process.  The project highlighted the Polish experience in European integration and its relationship to local governance.
 
 
 
Twenty Crimean officials studied the structure and scope of duties of local Polish authorities and the specific operational changes introduced to facilitate Poland’s accession to the EU.  They examined EU assistance to Poland during the pre-accession period and the existing forms of local self-government while learning about the cooperation of Polish schools, NGOs and businesses with partners from EU countries. Participants were taught how Polish local authorities attract investment from EU countries and obtained an understanding of the role of local government in the European referendum campaign.
 
Impact:
 
   The program published and distributed 300 copies of a brochure describing European integration activities at the local government level in Plonsk, Poland.
 
   Partnership agreements were signed between Plonsk and Bakhchysaray and Czerwinsk and Plodovoe.
 
    Local media reported widely on project events with four articles and two television segments covering the program and the EU integration issues.

Skills for the Future: The School of Ukrainian Young Government Leaders

WARSAW, POLAND - PAUCI supported three editions of the School of Ukrainian Young Local Governmental Leaders in 2000, 2003 and 2004.  This program, implemented by Warsaw-based NGO School of Leaders and European Dialogue from Lviv improved the knowledge and skills of 150 young Ukrainian Deputies serving on local councils by transferring Polish experience in selected aspects of local governance.  Participants in each edition were divided into groups according to their specific interests: education and social policy, communal property, service management and local finances and economic transformation of rural areas.  Participants also discussed lobbying and the challenges of fighting corruption.  Workshops in Ukraine, study tours to Poland and a final conference were organized in conjunction with this program.
 
Impact: 
  
     This program created a network of 150 young Ukrainian Local Council Deputies who have been trained in Poland and maintain close relationships with Polish counterparts sharing information, ideas and best-practices. 
  
     Project participants created statutes for several Ukrainian cities including Kremenchuk. 
  
    Project participants helped create local development agencies based on Polish models in the Ukrainian cities of Kobelyaki and Izaslav. 
  
      Deputies used Polish experience in the preparation of local development strategies for several cities including Trostyanets and Izaslav. 
  
     Members of the Young Local Government Leaders Network participate in on-going consultations on local issues amongst themselves and with Polish counterparts

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