d. California- Jiri Fiedor (Czech)
Mr. Fiedor interned primarily at the Department
of Corrections, spending three weeks in Sacramento and one week
in Los Angeles. His program focused on the state police system.
Mr. Fiedor spent some time with each of the five units in the
department, he found his time in the classification unit the most
interesting. He was surprised at how different the structure of
the Department of Corrections was from the structure in Czechoslovakia.
Mr. Fiedor also visited work camps for inmates,
various security level facilities, UCLA and Los Angeles City Police
Department. He found the California prison system to be very strong-similar
to Russia. He found the field work more interesting than interning
in the offices, partly because his English was rather limited.
He believed some parts of what he learned while interning at the
California Department of Corrections can be useful to Czechoslovakia.
Since the next legislative session was not
until January 6th., he did not get to meet any Senators or gain
a feeling for the structure of the legislature, but it seems like
its structure is similar to that of every other state the U.S.
He would have appreciated some exposure to a legislator.
e. Illinois - Anna Roschova (Czech) and Miroslav
Pollak (Slovak).
Their program was structured together which
made it easier for them to discuss their mutual observations and
experiences at the end of the day. The people were very friendly
and helpful. The program took place primarily in Springfield,
with one week in Chicago and one day visiting St. Louis. Their
program was very well organized and their schedule was very full,
they visited about 124 department and took many special trips.
Among other things, they visited farms, special institutes for
mental health, an alcoholic treatment center, a prison, and various
transportation facilities. Overall, felt that they had too many
executive branch experiences and not enough legislative exposure.
In Chicago, got to see how large city government
worked. Also visited Motorola company in Chicago. They really
enjoyed their visit to Motorola and would have liked to visited
more privately owned companies. Even during their short visit
to Motorola, they noticed the different work habits between government
workers an workers in private industry. At Motorola they could
see how efficiently people worked and how much more motivated
they were.
They felt the biggest problem with program
was the absence of the private sector. They felt there was too
much government and not enough exposure to how the rest of the
American public works.
Mrs. Roschova commented that she felt that
50 % of the time in the states was useless since it was not focused
on their individual interests. She, for example, did not get to
meet with a judge or have time to study the justice system. She
would have liked to focus more on the relationships and differences
between the state and the federal system of government.
Vladimir Cech (Czech) and Anton Hrnko (Slovak).
Mr. Cech and Mr. Hrnko's programs were individually
structured. They both agreed this was very goo since they were
able to ... it forced them to speak only English and they had
no opportunity to speak any Czech or Slovak. They felt gaining
this skill was one of the most important parts of the program
both of them in the long team. Also, by having separate programs,
Mr. Cech and Mr. Hrnko were able to better address their individual
needs when visiting the different departments.
Their state schedule was fairly flexible. Unfortunately,
they ..., but the did speak with some city government officials
which was helpful. They were upset that they only got to meet
with the Deputy mayor of Indianapolis.
Mr. Cech's first week was spent with the Agriculture
Committee. He arranged his schedule based on his interests. He
met with many different people and visited a farm. He felt ...
as he has little experience in agricultural issues. The second
week focused on education, which is one of his primary interests.
He learned about the state education system and all the different
types of schools, he visited a child care center, a private school,
a public school and colleges. The third week he visited the State
Police Department and got to visit a crime lab. He also visited
a hospital to learn about state health care issues. He also attended
two campaign meetings for the election of the Mayor of Indianapolis
which were interesting. The last week focused on culture and he
spent a week at the Indiana Art Commission. On his own initiative,
he spent a weekend in Chicago where he went to a few theaters.
Mr. Hrnko stressed that his host family experience
was very important to him. He thinks this is one of the most important
aspects of the program since it allowed him to experience American
life from the inside. It is his view that it is important that
all participants continue to be placed with host families. The
support a host family structure provides is crucial to the success
of the program. The host family experience was very special to
him and really appreciate the family's kindness to him.
Mr. Hrnko spent the first week was in the Department
of Administration and learned how the state bureaucrarcy functioned.
Although he realized it was important to learn, he sometimes was
bored. The second week he spent at the Department of Commerce.
Mr. Hrnko was impressed with how state level support can encourage
local economic development. He travelled throughout the state
an met with people in various Chambers of Commerce. Mr. Hrnko
felt the Chamber of Commerce "idea" was a very good
one and one which he will introduce into Slovakia. He also began
to understand the many tensions between the problems of the state,
the counties, and their relationship to one another, let alone
their relationship to the federal government. In Indiana, Mr.
Hrnko found these three sectors (county/state/federal) were very
divided and that everybody had very different interests. He also
visited an Indiana Art Commission, which he enjoyed very much.
He feels he made a valuable connection between Indians and the
Slovak Art Commission. the fourth week was spent at the Indiana
Agriculture Commission. There was limited interest on both sides,
and unlike Mr. Cech, Mr. Hrnko did not take iniative to shape
his program there.
E. Evaluation Seminar New York
After their state internships and before departing
from the United States, the young Czech and Slovak legislators
returned to New York for an evaluation seminar with CDS staff
to discuss their state internships. All felt the state internships
were the most valuable part of the program. It was an example
of "practice is better than theory." Their state-by-state
evaluation was outlined under the previous section.
G. Follow-up Seminars in Prague and Bratislava
As part of the requirement for participation
in the Democracy Training Program, the participants were requested
to brief their colleagues in the Czech and Slovak national councils
on the insights they gained during their stay in the United States
that could be applied to improve current legislative and administrative
systems in Czechoslovakia. The participants were also required
to submit a three to five page written report in English summarizing
their experience and presenting a working plan for putting their
new knowledge into action in their legislative capacities.
To ensure the participants had fulfilled these
responsibilities and to assess the preliminary impact of the Democracy
Training Program in Czechoslovakia, Karen Kalina and Mary Albon
travelled to Prague and Bratislava for one-day evaluation meetings.
In addition to meeting with the legislators from both councils
who participated in the Democracy Training Program, Mr. Kalina
and Ms. Albon met with Dagmar Buresova, president of the Czech
National -council, and Frantisek Miklosko, president of the Slovak
National Council, and with staff people and other interested legislators.
The meetings at the Czech National Council and at the Slovak National
Council were very productive.
Program impact.
The participants gave numerous examples of how their experience
in the United States had influence their current work in Czechoslovakia.
Examples included some very concrete places of legislation (such
as on taxation) and on ways of thinking about and approaching
things (such as how best to approach the tourism industry).
At the time of the follow-up seminar, the legislators
ha only been back for six weeks and were under pressure not only
to catch up after their absence but also to help conclude the
legislative session prior to Christmas break. They had had no
time to set up special meetings focused on discussing their time
in the United States. They had, however, briefed their respective
committees. Many of the legislators had also spoken on radio and
television, and most had been interviewed by regional newspapers
regarding their experiences in the U.S. The Czech legislators
planned to set up a breakfast club that would meet once a month
where one of them would speak about his/her experience to their
colleagues.
The Czech and Slovak legislators had also established
various professional relationships with people they met in the
U.S. and they are setting up exchange programs (sister cities,
elementary school videotape exchanges, other educational exchanges).
A Slovak legislator was very involved with coordinating a visit
to Slovakia by Texas business man in the chemical industry he
had met and the possibility of future cooperation.
Program Evaluation.
All the participating legislators and other Czech and Slovak government
officials were keen for the program to be repeated. They pointed
out that, to date, the United States had been the only country
to support any type of long-term educational exchange for Czech
and Slovak legislators at the republic level. Although the American
legislative system differs from the parliamentary system used
in Czechoslovakia, these program had been the only one to expose
the legislators to any other functioning democratic governmental
system other than their own. The impact of this cannot be overestimated.
There was general agreement that English language
capabilities were crucial for a thoroughly successful and profitable
experience, and there was interest in having English preparation
in advance within the national councils future program. There
was also fairly general agreement that the ten-week program was
too long, and that maybe a six-week program of substantive education
and practical job-shadowing internships would be better. There
were mixed reactions to the Washington trip, though most seemed
to see it as less important than the practical training.
Conclusion
The Democracy training Program successfully
fulfilled the objectives of the USIA's Central European Educational
Exchange and Training Program in providing the opportunity for
the participating Czech and Slovak legislators to gain first-hand
experience in applying the theories and concepts of democracy.
Through their internships in the state legislatures and/or various
state departments, the participants' observation of and involvement
in the administrative and legislative functions of state government
provided them with valuable insights that affect their decision
making in Czechoslovakia today.
We appreciate the USIA's funding of this worthwhile
program, which left an impact on all those involved. For Massachusetts,
the Czech and Slovak legislators were the first international
interns at the state house. For Texas, which has a large number
of descendants from Czech and Slovak emigres, important economic
ties were made which promise greater future cooperation. in Georgia,
the mutual information shared about the educational systems and
individual school information exchanges will have a broadening
impact on many children.