Parliamentary Programme

The programme was created for newly elected parliamentarians from civic society and journalism to educate them on European parliament practices, to provide expert support in working with draft laws, help them carry out parliamentary activities with better understanding and balance, as well as to ensure interaction of Members of Parliament and inter-factional dialogue.

The School held 3 seminars for MPs of the 8th convocation, which were attended by 25 newly elected Members from the following political parties and associations: “Petro Poroshenko Bloc”, “Samopomich”, “Batkivshchyna”, “People’s Front”, as well as self-nominated candidates.

It was during their training that Parliamentarians came up with an idea to create an inter-faction association. This is how a USPS group, called IFA EuroOptimists, was created in the Parliament.

On February 3, 2015, the Inter-Faction Association was registered in the Verkhovna Rada. It included participants of the USPS parliamentary programme, alumni of the School, as well as other MPs. The Parliamentarians united to jointly contribute to transformation of Ukraine into a prosperous, modern and democratic country.

Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the Ukrainian School of Political Studies continued to work with MPs after completing their training, providing them with expert support.

To improve political culture in the 9th convocation of the Parliament, the School continued the practice of training newly elected MPs. After 2019 parliamentary elections, we built a new group and brought together more than 30 MPs from different parties, factions and groups who passed the selection. The group included representatives of Holos, Sluha Narodu (Servant of People), Batkivshchyna, European Solidarity, Deputy Group for the Future and non-faction MPs.

The programme of that education and communication platform included preparation of MPs for doing their job, views development of newly elected Members of Parliament, support of communication with industry experts and voters, establishment of inter-faction dialogue, creation of an inclusive approach to policy build-up with the involvement of civil society organisations and arrangement of cooperation based on values and common ideas.

More than 30 MPs were selected to participate in the programme, who:

1. were elected for the first time;
2. shared values of an open society, democracy and the rule of law;
3. supported Ukraine’s European choice;
4. understood the importance and were ready to cooperate with civil society in their parliamentary activities;
5. and had a clear plan and vision for their work in the Parliament.

During 2019 we conducted two modules of the Parliamentary programme: a value-oriented seminar and a seminar on major government policies and reforms.