The Decentralized Management of Skills Training in Ukraine project was initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine (State Employment Centre) and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and two Canadian partners, namely the Association of Canadian Community Colleges and Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology. The project also relies on such Ukrainian partners as Ministry of Economy, Regional State Administrations and Employment Centres of the pilot regions. This five-year (2005 - 2010) is implemented with the financial assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The project is targeted at improving the efficiency of the training for unemployed in Ukraine. It supports efforts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Ministry of Education and Science to coordinate training supply with demand across economic and government sectors as represented by a wide variety of national and regional stakeholders in Ukraine’s skills training system. The project will also implement decentralized mechanisms of financial and administrative management to assist in improving the skills training system in Ukraine. Establishing active partnerships between training institutions, employers and the community at large is an important project component, targeted at developing more efficient and market-oriented skills training programs.

Three pilot regions were selected on a competitive basis for the implementation of this project, namely Dnipropetrovsk, Rivne and Zakarpattya.

The project will provide a considerable amount of technical and financial assistance to training institutions and other stakeholders directly involved in the training of unemployed. Assistance to Ukrainian partners will be provided through a variety of mechanisms, such as study tours to Canada and CEE countries, development of new and improvement of existing curricula, improvement of training equipment and facilities, development of manuals and training materials, building management capacity, etc. Over the project implementation period, a number of Canadian specialists will visit Ukraine and provide assistance to training institutions in modernizing their curricula and develop effective management models. At the same time, dozens of Ukrainian education professionals and managers will be able to learn from the experience of Canada and other countries.