On 15 August 2023, the Summer School of Coaching Skills, an educational project created in cooperation with the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service, the High School of Public Governance and international technical assistance projects, was opened: Support to Ukraine’s Government Reforms (SURGe), UNDP Ukraine, the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine, UN Women Ukraine, the Dr Dennis Mukwege Foundation, the EU Project “Support to Comprehensive Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” (EU4PAR), and the Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association “JurFem”,

More than 100 people took part in this year’s Summer School. These are trainers, experts, representatives of international technical assistance projects, public servants, and local government officials from all over Ukraine.

“The continuous process of professional development of public servants is one of the most important aspects of the capacity and effectiveness of the civil service,” said Nataliia Aliushyna, Head of the NAUCS, at the opening of the event. “The launch of the annual Summer School of Coaching Skills is the creation of an educational space for the professional development of coaches and maintaining their professionalism at a high level. I am confident that in the future the school will become a kind of coworking platform for scientists and educators in the field of professional development of public servants.”
Yuliia Lykhach, Director of the High School of Public Governance, stressed that one of the objectives of this educational project is to provide participants with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills in conducting trainings, master basic interactive learning technologies, and gain practical experience in conducting trainings. And, of course, to receive certificates of trainers in special training programmes. After all, without the involvement of qualified and trained teachers in the educational process; without creating conditions for continuous professional development and improving their coaching skills; and, of course, without professional training of trainers, there can be no high level of quality of educational services:

“We hope that the Summer School of Coaching skills will become the hallmark of the High School and will bring together more and more professionals, like-minded people who want to develop, share their experience and implement new effective projects in the field of public administration every year,” said Yulia Lykhach.

Government Commissioner for Gender Policy Kateryna Levchenko wished the Summer School participants an easy start and noted that the implementation of this educational project is a great opportunity to improve professional competencies, which are essential for the proper functioning of all institutions of the state and society in the context of the military-political, socio-economic, and humanitarian situation in the country.
The opening of the Summer School was also attended by international partners. The participants were greeted by:

Jaco Silier, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine;
Maria Plaksenko, Head of the Capacity Building Unit of the SURGe project “Support to Government Reforms in Ukraine” of UN Women in Ukraine
UN Women Representative in Ukraine Sabine Fraser Günes;
Deputy Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine Pavlo Zamostyan;
Executive Director of the Denis Mukwege Foundation Kathrin Coppens;
Ugis Siks, Team Leader of the EU4PAR Support to Comprehensive Public Administration Reform in Ukraine Project;
Khrystyna Kit, Head of the Association of Women Lawyers of Ukraine “JurFem”.
The first day of the Summer School also featured a thematic panel on “Modern Trends in the Education of Public Servants”, which was addressed by:

Kirsti Vakevainen, Director of the Finnish Institute of Public Administration (HAUS);
Dubravka Smolić Vlajić, Head of the Knowledge Transfer Service, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia;
Agita Kalvina, Director of the Latvian School of Public Administration.
The programme continued with masterclasses:

Use of coaching technologies in coaching activities.
Integrity of public service.
Artificial intelligence as a tool for professionalising the public service.
Participation and huitagogy techniques in the work of a trainer.
Modern tools for professional development of public servants.
Project cycle management in the EU as a tool for development.

And at the end of the intense first day of the Summer School, the participants had the opportunity to watch a one-man show “Talisman” (sniper) by the Babylon Folk Student Theatre of the Drohomanov Ukrainian State University.