A delegation of directors from Ukrainian regional training centers (RTCs) recently spent two weeks in Georgia learning about the types of instruction provided by the Institute's Governmental Training, Education, and Development Division (GTED) and other organizations for local governments. The Ukrainian RTCs, located in five cities throughout the country, have been providing their own programs for more than four years, and the directors wanted to compare their programs with those in Georgia as well as investigate how certificate programs are structured and managed.

The first week of the internship included seminar discussions led by International Center for Democratic Governance (ICDG) and GTED faculty on topics relevant to managing a training unit, according to Gordon Maner, GTED faculty member. "We wanted to provide our visitors with an understanding of the basics of how we provide training for local government and also a glimpse of some of the newest techniques in such areas as designing and implementing a professional certification program, developing programs and client consulting services, marketing techniques, and developing management skills," he notes.

In addition to the instructional sessions, the Ukrainian directors traveled to Atlanta and met with training professionals from the Georgia Municipal Association, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Labor, and the Georgia Economic Development Association.

The second week included an opportunity to observe GTED training in action for the City of Savannah. The interns sat in on sessions conducted by GTED's Sherri Lawless and met with the city's director of training, Jan Harman, and the assistant city manager, Chris Morrill. "Most of the training carried out by the Ukrainian centers is technical in nature, so I think it was particularly interesting for the directors to observe a management skills class that utilized some of the participatory techniques I had mentioned to them in our discussion about curriculum development the week before," notes Lawless. "The Savannah experience provided them with a framework they can use to build a strategic plan for their centers' future development."

The internship concluded back in Athens with a needs assessment and goal setting session to identify future initiatives within the Ukraine Regional Training Centers collaborative and with the Vinson Institute.

The ten RTC directors and two translators who came to Athens from Ukraine were accompanied by Nadia McConnell, president of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation; Vera Andrushkiw, director of the U.S. Community Partnerships; and Valerie Wright, director of Ukraine Community Partnerships. While at UGA, these three leaders of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation and its training programs met with Dan Durning, ICDG director, and Jim Stephens, GTED director, to discuss how the Vinson Institute can work with the RTCs in the future as they develop new certificate programs.

Durning note, "GTED's experience with offering high quality certificate program was of great interest to the US-Ukraine Foundation and the RTC directors. They have decided to start their own certificate programs in the coming year, and we expect ICDG and GTED to be involved in advising them on how to proceed."

Savannah's Training Director Jan Harman in seminar discussion with interns