The way of changes in the Republic of Poland, and responsibilities of decentralized authority before the public – these were the subjects studied by Ukrainian journalists during the training visit on October 5 to 10. The visit was organized by the Swiss-Ukrainian project “Decentralization support in Ukraine” (DESPRO) and the International Solidarity Fund «Solidarity Fund PL».

For a week participants visited the cities of Warsaw and Lublin, as well as a welcoming gmina of Goscieradow; attended such organizations as the Central Anti-corruption Bureau, editor’s office of “Wyborcza” (“Electoral”) newspaper, the National School of Public Administration, International Solidarity Fund, and Mayor’s office in the city of Lublin. They had an opportunity to meet the best experts and implementers of the reform in Poland (in such fields as local self-government, economical development of territories, city branding), as well as hear their reports and presentations concerning Polish-German benchmarks and Polish-Ukrainian collaboration, economical situation in Poland, condition of education field there, civil society development level, challenges, awaiting for Polish economy in the next 25 years, vision of Ukrainian reforms by Polish experts, their warnings and advice, substantiated by impressive results achieved by them in Poland. During the study tour, its participants had the opportunity not just to study the experience of the Western neighbour, but also to establish a multitude of interesting contacts with the best experts, learn their best practices, and see, how residents of an ordinary gmina lived and arranged their lives.

Participants of the tour included journalists from the following national and regional media:

- “Dzerkalo Tyzhnya” (“Weekly Mirror”), “Den’” (“Day”), “Visti” (“News”) (city of Slovyansk) news papers;

- TV channels (“Hromadske TV” (“Public TV”), “Espresso”, «1+1», ATR, «5th channel»);

- “Hromadske” (“Public”) radio, “Radio Svoboda” (“Freedom”);

-  internet-portals LB.ua, Insider, Novoye Vremya (New Time).

The training visit of Ukrainian journalists was held under financial and organizational support of Swiss-Ukrainian project “Decentralization support in Ukraine” (DESPRO), International Solidarity Fund «Solidarity  Fund  PL», as well as the local partner StudyTourstoPoland.

We thank the reporter from “Den’” paper, Volodymyr Boyko, and camera operator from “5^th channel” Ivan Nakonechny for the photo.