2007 PRESS RELEASES 

Slovak-Kazakh local government training program supported by US Embassy

Bratislava, March 30, 2007

Ambassador Rodolphe Vallee met 14 Kazakh local government experts and Parliamentarians March 29 to be briefed on their experiences in Slovakia during a two-week training program sponsored by Slovak Aid, UNDP and the U.S. Embassy.

The project focused on the transfer of Slovak experience in local government to the Kazakh experts during their March 19-29 visit. The group, which included three Kazakh members of Parliament, traveled to Piešťany, Trnava, Žilina, Liptovský Hrádok and Tatranská Štrba.

The group visited Slovak municipalities and local government institutions and developed training materials to be used in workshops in Kazakhstan. All materials prepared and translated in Slovakia will be also place on web pages of involved NGOs in Kazakhstan to support broader usage.

In their briefing for Ambassador Vallee at the American Embassy, the Kazakh participants explained that they want to establish a network of training centers to support the professional development of local government officials, similar to that found in Slovakia. They also noted the role of the Slovak media in making government officials more accountable to the public for their decisions.

The U.S. Embassy provided an $8,400 grant to the Slovak organization, Local Government Development Center (LGDC), to fund training materials in Russian for the Kazakh local government project.