OSCE helps Ukrainian military officers obtain new professional skills in civilian fields

LVIV, Ukraine, 23 December 2013 – The last graduation ceremony of the year for military officers took place today in Lviv, bringing the total number of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel retrained for civilian professions to 682 people for 2013. The OSCE-supported retraining campaign was conducted in twenty-two cities, towns and military garrisons throughout the country by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, in partnership with the Social Policy Ministry.

“During 2013-2017 the Ukrainian Armed Forces are going through intensive reform which aims to increase effectiveness, while reducing the number of personnel. It is critically important that military officers retiring from the army are prepared for civilian life and able to find new employment,” said Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

The retraining specialities offered to military personnel in 2013 included IT technologies and web-design, management (for transport, logistics, business, tourism, human resources, environmental issues, administration), security (including business security), and entrepreneurship (economics of an enterprise, organization and management of small and medium-sized enterprises).

All retrained military officers were also provided with employment assistance including instruction in personal development, job search, job interview techniques, participation in job fairs, psychological support, and help in writing CVs.

Additionally, eight seminars for some 420 serving middle-rank military officers were held to raise their awareness of how to ensure social rights and guarantees of their subordinates who are being discharged. 

Since 2004, the OSCE has helped provide new professional skills and knowledge to more than 8,000 officers in Ukraine, and on average more than 70% of the graduated officers found employment as a result of the OSCE project.