Charles Wise, professor and director of the parliamentary project at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, stands in front of the parliament building in Ukraine. Behind Wise, in this archival photo, workers are removing the concrete hammer and sickle emblem of the former Soviet Union and installing the Ukrainian trident.
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Charles Wise, professor at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Bloomington, has been awarded a five-year, $4.9 million contract by the United States Agency for International Development to help strengthen democratic government in Ukraine.
The new funding will allow Wise and his development team to build on the non-partisan work they have done with the Ukrainian Parliament over the past nine years, which included helping to draft the country’s constitution.
The announcement of the contract was made by U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), who said, “Countries that are seeking to develop a more representative form of government deserve our support. IU has the ability, the talent and the track record to help Ukraine with this process.”
The purpose of the project is to assist Ukraine in achieving a more effective, independent and representative legislature. Among several activities outlined by the grant proposal is a parliamentary internship program for parliament members and staff. According to Wise, who also is director of research and programming for the Center on Congress at IU, the structured training is critical, since the effective passage of legislation is directly correlated with the technical competence of the parliament’s members and staff.
The project team also hopes to help the parliament improve legislature-executive branch relations, in part through introduction of a government performance measurement system. That system will use outcome information to monitor the implementation of laws and improve them as needed.
Ukrainian citizens also are expected to benefit from the
parliamentary development project. A part of the plan is to
increase access and feedback to, as well as participation
in, the Ukrainian legislative process. Of special interest
to the team is an opportunity to significantly improve gender
equity in government, both in terms of representation within
the parliament itself, and in terms of the historic legal
treatment of women.
http://www.indiana.edu/~speaweb/fcltydir/r_cwise.html
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