* For additional project information on these recently completed projects, please contact CBIE’s International Development Programs Division (insert hyperlink to IDP contact information).

The Policy Reform and Implementation Support Mechanism Project is designed to support multiple policy reform initiatives in Ukraine from 2007 until 2012.   It is a Project managed by CBIE providing:

• targeted support to strengthen the policy development, implementation and coordination capacities of Ukrainian government institutions as they move forward on their ambitious reform agenda;
• a flexible, responsive and proactive programming tool for Canadian technical cooperation capable of responding to evolving political and economic events in Ukraine; and
• a mechanism for responding to policy related requests from the Government of Ukraine that are in line with the Canadian government’s objectives in Ukraine.

PRISM funds individual initiatives (sub-projects) in four sectors: public administration, judicial policy, private sector development and gender equality, which respond to the evolving needs and capacities of partners in Ukraine. 

Initiatives support policy work with the Government of Ukraine at central and regional levels, or a combination thereof.  Through PRISM, Ukrainian government institutions are able to access Canadian and European advisory expertise and support. Through its policy investments, PRISM will also work to enhance the role and capacity of civil society to work in partnership with government institutions to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate government policies in a democratic and participatory manner.

The PRISM Project is part of Canada's technical co-operation program with Ukraine that emphasizes capacity building, the transfer of knowledge, partnerships, and the forging of direct links between Canadian and Ukrainian Partners.  The linkages forged under PRISM provide the opportunity to share and exchange ideas, methodologies, expertise and experiences related to the process of policy-making and implementation.   Associated activities, related to this policy development and implementation process, eligible for funding under PRISM include (but are not limited to): the short -term placement of Canadian or European advisors in Ukraine, the potential provision of long-distance advice and support, seminars, roundtables, the publication of policy-related documents,  working groups, etc.  Funding may be accessed through one of three policy advice funding mechanisms: bilateral, trilateral and institutional partnership.

For further PRISM Project information, please visit the Project website at http://www.prism.org.ua.

The Ukrainian Civil Service Human Resource Management Reform (UCS-HRM) Project  supports Ukraine’s Main Department for Civil Service in its present civil service reform efforts, in particular in the area of public sector human resource management.  The overall goal of the UCS-HRM Project is the promotion of transparent and accountable governance in Ukraine through targeted reforms of the central government human resource management system in line with SIGMA/OECD baselines. 

Specifically, the UCS-HRM Project will:

• assist the Government of Ukraine in the development of a human resource management strategic framework and in the reform of legislation, policies, procedures and regulations, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of human resource management within the Ukrainian civil service;
• support the development and integration of consistent and effective human resource management processes and procedures based upon the principles of political impartiality, transparency, meritocracy and equality in selected Ukrainian government ministries and agencies;
• enhance the capacity of the Main Department for Civil Service and selected government bodies’ human resource units to effectively implement human resource management processes and procedures in a sustainable transparent and apolitical manner; and
•  develop and institutionalize a sustainable human resource management training and mentoring program.

The UCS-HRM Project runs until 2010, and is financed by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The Canadian Education and Training Awards – Africa (CETAA) is a program designed and implemented by CBIE and sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This program is designed to strengthen the capacity of civil society in four African countries (Ghana, Ethiopia, Mali and Senegal) to have a measurable influence on the policies and practices of regional and national governments’ commitments in furthering the progress towards poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

In order to reach this goal, the program supports two principal streams of activities:

• Individual capacity building: young professionals and other individuals, primarily those employed or volunteering in local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) or other organizations engaged in priority areas identified by CIDA, are supported in professional education and training through a competitive awards mechanism;
• Organizational and training capacity building: 1) CSOs are supported in strengthening their skills and knowledge to contribute to the advancement of the country’s Poverty Reductions Strategies and progress towards MDGs; and 2) Local Training Institutions are supported in designing and delivering training to CSOs and associated individuals in governance-related and organizational strengthening topics, through the forging of partnerships with Canadian institutions and/or expertise and in providing small awards to support this partnership building.

For further CETAA Project information, please visit the project website at http://www.cetaa.ca .

The Community Economic Development Project works with people in small marginalized Ukrainian communities to help them develop their own plans to improve the social and economic quality of their lives. Over four years (2004-2007) the CED Project  has empowered communities to play a key role in implementing an alternative cooperative and participatory development framework based on mobilizing committed citizens to initiate and generate their own solutions to common economic problems and on enhancing the capacities of stakeholders in fundamental community economic development skills.

Ranging in population from under 1,000 up to 15,000, numerous villages and towns in Lviv, Transcarpathia and Cherkasy Oblasts have energized thousands of individuals from various age groups to undertake sustainable social and economic projects which are locally owned and managed, create jobs for residents, use local resources, and keep money circulating within the community. Restoration of deteriorated street lighting, renovation of parks and playgrounds, as well as expansion and upgrading of school facilities have helped to create a more attractive living environment for individuals and families, thus encouraging them to see their future in their own communities. Nearby neighbourhoods and communities have been inspired to replicate the initiatives of project partners.

Numerous community economic development associations, established by project stakeholders, are encouraging ideas for the establishment of local businesses, such as transportation services, local garden-supply shops, eco-tourism and rural tourism homes, and milk-processing cooperatives. In addition to raising funds from and enlisting the efforts of ordinary local residents, these projects and community economic initiatives have successfully attracted the financial and technical support of municipal and district authorities, private businesspersons and other international donors, including the Bishop Budka Charitable Association of Edmonton.

Concordia University and Simon Fraser University have participated in developing CED skills and knowledge with Ukrainian counterparts.  In addition, Uzhgorod National University and Cherkassy State Technological University, having participated in the project from the beginning, are contributing to its sustainability by creating centres for community economic development to support local communities through research, advice and training.

An underlying theme of the CED Project has been the strengthening and encouragement of a participatory democratic culture within all three community sectors: civil society, business and government. This has meant  changes in political and other  habitual patterns of behaviour, empowering communities to create their own solutions, using a flexible plan growing out of trusting relationships, working toward a consensus decision-making framework and a facilitative form of leadership, and developing methods to involve the most vulnerable and marginalized.

The project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and its partner organizations.

For further CEDProject information, please visit the project website at http://www.ced.org.ua.

Since 2003, CBIE has managed and executed the Public Policy Knowledge Network project (2003-2008) in the South Caucasus countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.  The goal of the project is to build capacity within the government of Georgia and at schools of public administration in the South Caucasus to meet global standards and best practices in public administration.  This project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.  Through PPKN, CBIE has worked closely with its Eastern European partners including the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (Hungary) and the Central European University (Hungary).  In Canada, Carleton University (Ottawa) has been CBIE’s primary partner.  At a local level, the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) has been the project’s primary partner in Tbilisi.

From 2003 to June 2007, the PPKN project implemented a comprehensive, gender-sensitive public policy working group program designed to build policy analysis and development skills within the Government of Georgia.  During the four cycles of the ten-month program, policy fellows completed training courses in public policy conducted by Canadian, international and local experts, and wrote major policy papers in consultation with their respective ministries/agencies.  A total of 108 fellows graduated from the program at the end of the project in June 2007.   The project has directly impacted its participant policy fellows – with many having been promoted to advisory and decision making positions within their respective ministries and agencies since their engagement in the program.  

Presently, CBIE is working to consolidate the public policy development capacity in the Georgian government by helping to establish four pilot policy analysis teams in select ministries and foster the institutionalization of formal policy development processes, thereby securing demand for, and the sustainability of, PPKN’s key results – enhanced capacity for policy analysis.  CBIE will also provide direct Canadian expertise to the Office of the Prime Minister of Georgia to assist in strengthening policy coordination and cohesion across government as well as harmonize policy presentation to Cabinet.  It is planned that the PPKN project will also design and develop a set of Georgian “policy cycle” manual(s) to enhance public policy capacity, work methods and techniques throughout the Government of Georgia. 

Since 2005, CBIE has also delivered direct policy advice to the Government of Georgia in priority areas of reform such as public consultations; public sector reform; investment promotion, country branding and marketing; and national official statistics programs under the PPKN project’s policy advice for reform  mechanism.  This mechanism has also focused its assistance to support capacity building in human resource management to an extensive professional network of senior HR managers established under PPKN.  Through this network, PPKN has provided extensive trainings in job analysis, job description writing, and performance based appraisal systems to a broad range of senior HR officials from across the Georgian government. 

Under the auspices of this project, CBIE helped build public policy curricula within the primary public administration institutions across the region.  Training for faculty in the South Caucasus has helped to develop individual and institutional capacity to plan, design and deliver modern, gender-sensitive teaching in public policy.  The academic capacity building programs were tailored to meet the individual needs of the public administration academies in each country, namely the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Academy of Public Administration.

CBIE has applied its innovative PPKN project portal at www.ppkn.net as a core mechanism for knowledge sharing among project partners and as a digital library of public policy and governance resources. This digital library contains web links, documents, how-to guides and other materials related to public policy.  As well, the portal has also served as a platform for discussion, as a networking tool for regional practitioners, and as the core mechanism for knowledge sharing among project partners.  

For further PPKN Project information, please visit the project website at http://www.ppkn.net.

The Official Development Assistance in Central Europe (ODACE) program is a demand-driven and responsive mechanism to provide Canadian support for institutional capacity building in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to develop Official Development Assistance (ODA) policies and capacity as new donor countries. These countries include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The program has two main components: capacity building and trilateral collaboration. The capacity building phase (2003-2005) had four sub-components: 1) capacity building within the partner countries’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs and responsible government units to establish ODA policies, structures and protocols; 2) capacity building of the voluntary sector and NGO Platforms in each country; 3) development of international development programs in academic institutions; and 4) capacity building of the private sector to participate in ODA. The trilateral collaboration phase (2005-2008) provides financial project support and continued capacity building support in advisory and monitoring and evaluation services to the partner countries’ government ODA agencies.

CBIE is responsible for supporting program management in the delivery of all capacity building components of ODACE. In addition, CBIE is responsible for the identification, recruitment and mobilization of experts, partners and participants both in Canada and in CEE countries, for all contractual arrangements with experts and CEE country organizations, for organizing internships and study tours, roundtables and committee meetings abroad, liaising with MFAs and other partners in all program countries, financial management, logistical support, monitoring, evaluation and reporting for over 300 sub-program initiatives of varying size and scope in eight transitional economies. During the trilateral phase, CBIE continues with the provision of capacity building services to CEE MFAs as a support to trilateral ODACE projects delivered by local executing agencies in priority sectors and beneficiary countries selected by ODACE partner MFAs.

Since 2003, CBIE has designed, organized, implemented and managed over 300 sub-program initiatives with multiple partners and priorities, all with varying timelines and with multiple-or bi-country participation. These initiatives have included 15 study tours; 153 experts providing advisory and mentoring services in Canada and abroad; 25 round tables and seminars; and 7 internships in Canada.

CBIE has a twenty year partnership with the CIDA-funded United Nations Fellowships in Canada Project (UNFCP). The objective of this program has been to enable the sponsored United Nations (UN) Fellows to strengthen their abilities relevant to the development priorities of their home countries and, on return, to contribute to achieving those priorities through building the capacity of their home countries. CBIE has been successful in welcoming more than 3000 UN Fellows to Canada. These Fellows have partnered with 181 CBIE member institutions in 84 different areas of expertise. With experience in welcoming Fellows  from over 150 nations, CBIE has developed an intimate knowledge of the needs and sensitivity of their many cultures.

Among the UN Agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) situated in Vienna has sent almost 1000 Fellows to Canada over the past twenty years. The relationship between IAEA and CBIE will continue with a new agreement signed in August 2007.