Openness key word at final seminar
The first of October, the last big seminar was conducted within the framework of the project Ukraine Public Dialogue. The project has been going on for two years. It is financed by Sida and has been carried through in cooperation with Global Reporting and the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
– Openness and transparency are key word for us and the project has meant very much in order to develop the communication standards with the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers, stated Ivan Ratushnyak, vice minister with special responsibility for communication matters within the secretariat, as he opened the seminar.
Natalia Dniprenko, assisting Head of Information at the Secretariat proudly demonstrated the communication handbook for civil servants that was produced within the project.
- It has taken a lot of effort to do this handbook, but now I believe it will be of great use, she stated.
David Isaksson, teamleader for the Swedish consultants and CEO for Global Reporting, made a review of the different activities that have been carried out in the course of the project.
– An important principle has been to make all material that has been produced in the project accessible to the public. Therefore we have gathered everything on a special website, he said.
Another important aspect of the project has been to educate trainers that can forward the knowledge comprised in the project. As part of this process, an extensive education kit has been produced and a number of seminars on different features of government communication has been held. Lars Tallert handed over diplomas during the final seminar to the 22 trainers that now bear this important task on their shoulders.
The seminar also offered a special lecture on internal communication by Hans-Olof Karlsson, professor in strategic communication at the University of Orebro.
_ All processes of change must start with internal communication, was his point of departure.
Ukraine Public Dialogue ends with this seminar – a fact that many participants found hard to understand.
– Why do you end now when you really have got going? was a common remark during the seminar.
The project has initiated a new way of thinking in the State – government communication built on dialogue instead of one-way information. This process will most certainly continue, even if it will not happen within the framework of this specific project.