Internship of representatives of public organizations of Volyn and Rivne oblasts in the United States of America

From October 25 to November 15, 2003, representatives of 10 public organizations from the Volyn and Rivne regions underwent an internship in the United States of America.

This internship took place within the framework of the "Community Connections" program, which is implemented by the Press, Education and Culture Department of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and the Harmony Project with the support of the American government. Volyn was represented by: Mykola Ivanyuk - Association for the Protection of the Rights of Youth of Volyn; Lyudmyla Voznyuk - Child Development Center; Alla Torunova - Association of Disabled Children "Special Child" (all - Lutsk); Ruslana Bovhyrya - educational information and training center "Kammerton" (Novovolynsk); Antonina Vasylenko - creative association of children "Edelweiss" (Kovel).

Representatives of public associations had the opportunity to exchange experience and improve professional skills in non-governmental organizations of the state of Maine, Portland (USA). During the trip, the Ukrainian participants visited more than 45 public organizations working in the field of human rights protection, social protection of the population, environmental protection, and had the opportunity to meet with the state governor and representatives of the local senate.

The modern Western economy is, first of all, the cooperation of three equal partners: the state, business, and public organizations. The result of such interaction is an effective system of providing social services to the population, the implementation of long-term projects and programs aimed at creating favorable conditions for the self-realization of disabled people, assistance to socially vulnerable segments of the population, etc.

According to the internship participants, in order to achieve effective interaction and cooperation of the three sectors in Ukraine and the region, the following mechanisms need to be improved:

- reforming the legislative framework regarding the activities of NGOs, the sphere of observance of the rights and interests of disabled people, socially unprotected segments of the population;

- support by local authorities of initiatives of public organizations in the sphere of solving socio-economic problems of the community;

- introduction of professionalism and systematicity in the activities of public organizations of the region;

- involvement of commercial structures and citizens in solving socio-economic problems of the region;

- the possibility of community influence on the formation of the local budget and control over the use of funds.

Therefore, the main result of the internship of representatives of non-governmental organizations of the Volyn region should be the implementation of new projects and programs aimed at ensuring the rights and interests of the community, establishing mechanisms of cooperation of public associations with authorities and business, as a necessary prerequisite for building a social and legal state in Ukraine, as well as the development of international ties between the regions of the two countries.