Evaluation of USAID Political Party Programs: Ukraine

The country has made considerable progress over the last two decades toward a democratic political system and a market-oriented economy. However, weak formal institutions and the existence of powerful informal para-institutional structures have allowed strong actors to work outside the institutional framework formally established in the constitution. Political institutions, including parties, are dominated by personalities, and the rule of law is fragile. The Ukrainian party system is far stronger than it was in the 1990s, and the dynamics of party competition are more stable now that centrist parties have taken over the political space. Contemporary political life is dominated by two broad groupings: the centre-left Party of the Regions and the centre-right 'Orange' parties. However, 'left' and 'right' are better understood as competition between groups of powerful economic interests than different value systems. Parties are not the building blocks of Ukrainian politics the way they are in many states, and they play a relatively peripheral role in structuring political competition. Political party assistance in Ukraine through CEPPS was intended to address many of the gaps or failures found in political parties, the party system, and governance generally. Both IRI and NDI have been involved in party assistance in Ukraine since the early 1990s. The time period of the last CEPPS programs by the party institutes was 2007-10, and the activities of those programs reflected the complexity of the needs of parties as well as the history of preceding programs. The evaluation of political party assistance in Ukraine is a pilot application of a draft methodology, rooted in a conceptual framework of the relationship between political parties, the party system, and democratic development. The evaluation effort was based on semi-structured interviews, voting and public opinion survey data, and a table of indicators created based on a matching of the actual program's activities to a list of typical activities and indicators. The evaluation examined various party-building activities, youth outreach, strengthening the elected official-citizen connection, and improving party-faction relationships. The evaluation found that various party-building activities were generally successful, with some exceptions. Individuals clearly benefited from training on party management, campaign management, and voter mobilization. Training to improve internal communication was quite effective, and monitoring of electoral processes demonstrated success. However, the impact of training on media, public relations, and new media technologies was partial, and the concept of permanent campaigns did not resonate. The team was unable to interview anyone who had taken part in or remembered training on opposition strategies. The evaluation also highlighted conceptual and methodological issues for party assistance programs generally and evaluation of those programs specifically. The team highlighted questions about whether training benefits individuals or their parties, whether programs aimed at political competition at an elite level are simply too vulnerable to political events, and the extent to which programs should be adapted to local context. The evaluation also highlighted the need for more attention to be paid to the logistics of the evaluation effort, particularly in the context of complex programs. Ukraine is a country of 46.2 million inhabitants and 233,100 square miles, stretching from the geographical centre of Europe in the Carpathian mountains in the West to the Donbass in the east. Following a brief period of independence in 1917-19, the territory of today's Ukraine was divided between the Soviet Union and various central European states until after the Second World War, when the country was again united and assumed its current borders as part of the Soviet Union. Following the attempted putsch in Moscow in August 1991, Ukraine declared independence. In contemporary Ukraine, most people are bilingual, speaking both Ukrainian and Russian (though fewer than a fifth of the population classify themselves as ethnic Russians). Ukrainian is the preferred language of interchange of about half the population, including especially those living in rural areas and in the West of Ukraine. Russian is spoken most in cities (including Kiev) and in the eastern part of the country. Ukraine has small Tatar, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish, and Jewish populations also. Ukraine's 2010 Freedom House score was 3 for political rights and 2 for civil liberties; it is a democratic state, but there remain significant problems with corruption and rule of law. Per capita GDP was $6,400 in Ukraine in 2009. The economy is dependent on heavy industry and the extraction of natural resources, though light industry and the service sector have developed since independence. Ukraine has suffered considerably in economic terms in the wake of the 2008 banking crisis and subsequent economic downturn, and it has been obliged to turn to the IMF for support. Ukraine has expressed aspirations to join both the European Union and NATO, but these are both distant hopes. In May 2009, the EU signed a new partnership and cooperation agreement with Ukraine, which aims to strengthen economic and political ties between the two countries. The agreement includes provisions on trade, energy, and security cooperation, as well as support for Ukraine's efforts to reform its economy and strengthen its institutions.