Support for Ukrainian Resettlement and Retraining Centre extended
The activities of the Kmelnitsky Resettlement and Retraining Centre will be supported by several Allies for a further three-year period under a Partnership for Peace Trust Fund. This initiative is helping Ukraine tackle the social and economic consequences of defence reform and the associated downsizing of its armed forces.
The Centre inaugurates the second phase of the project
The Kmelnitsky Centre supports the transition of former military personnel to civilian careers, using a structured approach of information, advice, training courses and job-seeking assistance.
The project has proved to be very successful. During its first phase (2006-2008), some 80 per cent of the officers who had left the Armed Forces found a new job in the civilian sector.
Second phase
The second phase will extend from 2009 to 2011 with an overall budget of approximately €700 000.
The Netherlands, which had been the lead nation for the first phase of the project, will continue playing this role for another three years, together with Denmark. These two countries are also the biggest contributors. Other countries that have agreed to contribute to the project’s second phase, include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Poland.
Denmark is also providing additional financing for a pilot project, to be run in the framework of the Kmelnitsky Centre, to help the integration into civilian jobs of released officers in the region of Kharkiv.
NATO’s Defence and Security Economics Directorate continues to be responsible for the technical aspects of implementing the project, which is part of the NATO-Ukraine Annual Target Plan.
Other NATO support
In addition to the Trust Fund project, NATO-Ukraine cooperation in the field of retraining of released military personnel is being developed along two other lines:
- A NATO-funded retraining programme, which has been running for almost 10 years, is providing linguistic and specialised professional courses and aims to retrain around 500 officers in 2009.
- Expert help is being given to help Ukraine develop a comprehensive resettlement programme.