Parliamentary Development Project

The Parliamentary Development Project began work in the Ukraine in 1994. Funded by the U.S. Agency on International Development, it is considered the longest-running sustained effort to promote legislative development in the world and has been labeled a “model program” for promoting democracy around the globe.

 

In 2008, the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University signed a $4 million, three-year contract to operate the program.

 

Guided by Dr. Charles Wise, founding director of the Glenn School, the PDP has more than a dozen people on the ground in Kiev who work directly with Ukraine’s legislature, the Verkhovna Rada.

 

“The point of our project is to help them put processes in place so that negotiation and arrangements on specific policies can go on regardless of the turmoil that’s happening at the top,” Wise said.

 

Out of its Kiev office, Ukraine Program Director Ellie Valentine and her staff members organize seminars and give advice, guidance and information about running a democratic parliament — from the legislative process to committee organization, the budget process, relations with the media and government transparency.