On October 14 and 16, more than 50 representatives from four USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) agri company partners, including Agro-Region, Soufflet Agro Ukraine, MHP, Kernel, and Ukrzaliznytsia, participated in two webinars organized by one of ERA’s grantees, NGO Lean Institute Ukraine. Lean Institute Ukraine consultants, Andrii Dmytriiev and Tetiana Oztunch, hosted the webinar, with the aim of improving various company processes through continuous learning.  

Lean methodology is a set of management practices that provides value for customers by encouraging companies to find ways to reduce delays and eliminate waste, focused on people, goals, and processes. Through the webinar, agri companies gained knowledge that will help them optimize logistics processes and reduce time spent on daily grain export operations. 

Webinar participants analyzed value cases for the customer in the grain shipment process, identified what constitutes as value for the customer, and what represents losses. Among the eight main types of waste are excessive transportation, inventory, unnecessary movements, waiting, overproduction, excess processing, defects, and unrealized employee potential. Participants mastered the structure, tools, and objectives of mapping using a wheat receiving example. 

“This is a great opportunity for companies to reduce their production costs by reviewing their work processes,” said consultant Dmytriiev. “Daily processes must be structured in such a way that the needs of the customer come first. The customer is not interested in how you prepare the contract or why the truck was delayed at the border; they want to receive their goods on time. Thus, customer value is about solving problems where they arise – quickly, fully, without unnecessary time wastage, and minimizing the number of decisions.” 

These webinars are the first of seven for agri-logistics companies, which will run until November 6. In addition to this course, there are plans to conduct Kaizen events for agri-logistics companies, rapid training for agri-logistics personnel, a course on service and technical maintenance of agricultural, logistics, and laboratory equipment, as well as systematic post-training support.  

On September 27, teachers and students of the Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University (EUNU) presented the new USAID-equipped Digital Prototyping and Manufacturing Laboratory (FabLab) to 15 students from the Kyiv Technical School of Electronic Devices and representatives of USAID.

The FabLab is one of three new labs equipped by USAID through its Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) to help EUNU attract more students to study engineering and provide a space where they can gain practical skills working with cutting-edge equipment. Originally located in Luhansk Oblast, EUNU was forced to move twice following Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022, eventually settling in Kyiv. More than 5,200 students are currently studying at EUNU in eight different departments.

At the event, EUNU teachers and students demonstrated a 3D printer making engine parts and a laser cutter creating a phone holder out of plywood. The university also presented a mockup of an agricultural drone produced with the USAID-provided equipment. Attendees discussed the lab’s possibilities and professional prospects for engineering graduates, and EUNU invited students to join their new “scientific circle,” a free club that will host workshops. 

“I have been studying software engineering for several years and am particularly interested in using a 3D printer for design,” said Bohdan Ihnatiuk, a 4th-year student at the Kyiv Technical School of Electronic Devices. “I think that in the future engineering will be in great demand, especially for the reconstruction of Ukraine, and workshops like the one today help us understand certain aspects of the profession, and even try to make something practical.” 

From September to November 2024, EUNU plans to hold 10 similar events for applicants of various educational institutions of Kyiv to help attract more students to the university and the field of engineering.  

Serhii Kudryavtsev, Dean of the Engineering Faculty, said,

“Through such events, we popularize engineering majors among applicants and promote the reorientation of young people to the professions needed for the economy of Ukraine.” 

Through a grant from USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) the modern research and educational center, Engineering and Robotics, opened at Lviv Polytechnic. This center is designed to develop practical skills in students of applied mechanics and mechanical engineering, enhance their education, and prepare them to work with equipment in modern industries. 

At the center, with the support of mentors, students will be able to learn new technologies and methods for processing and analyzing metal using laser cutting machines, bending machines, vertical milling machines, spectrometers, pendulum hammers, and other equipment.  

For more details, see the video. 

More than 50 people gathered for the conference “Workforce Development for Ukraine: New Opportunities and Achievements,” in Kyiv. The conference’s target was to share ideas on how to strengthen the labor potential for various businesses and improve the cooperation between educational institutions, government, and businesses during the war by training adults.  

USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) shared results of the project “Workforce Development for Ukraine”, implemented by the NGO, International Foundation of Development. The project ran from July 2023 to June 2024 and aimed to strengthen institutions of higher and vocational education and regional state administrations’ capacity to improve qualifications and train adults, especially immigrants and other vulnerable populations. Conference participants discussed prospects for further development of Ukraine’s labor potential, challenges and possible solutions. 

On June 25, the USAID Economic Resilience Activity (USAID ERA) organized the conference, “Workforce Development for Ukraine: New Opportunities and Achievements,” in Kyiv. The conference brought together more than 50 of USAID ERA’s partners, including representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, professional and higher educational institutes, construction, mechanical engineering, production, services and agricultural sectors, NGOs and regional state administrations. More than 50 participants also joined the event online.  

The conference shared results of USAID ERA’s “Workforce Development for Ukraine” project, implemented by the NGO, “International Foundation of Development. The project ran from July 2023 to June 2024 and aimed to strengthen institutions of higher and vocational education and regional state administrations’ capacity to improve qualifications and train adults, especially immigrants and other vulnerable populations. Conference participants discussed prospects for further development of Ukraine’s labor potential, challenges and possible solutions. 

“During the implementation of the project, our partners from the International Foundation of Development trained many specialists, including university teachers and those working in key sectors of the economy,” explained USAID ERA Chief of Party Timothy Madigan. “People and enterprises from 24 regions of Ukraine joined the project, which has influenced our partners. Universities and institutions of professional and technical education have improved their programs, and companies have developed new approaches to personnel and their retraining. Your efforts are not just help to specific employees, but also the development and recovery of Ukraine’s economy.”  

Throughout the project, more than 160 trainings (online and offline) were held, in which more than 4,000 specialists took part, including more than 800 of representatives of agricultural companies involved in grain export. For example, a training at Lin Institute for elevator complex specialists focused on optimization of production processes, maintenance of wagons, generators, grain drying, soft and meta-skills, and various aspects of export logistics, control and measuring devices and automation. 

“We are very grateful that our specialists from elevator complexes were able to participate in the training offered by the project – we can already see that it affects the business – it allows us to optimize certain processes at the elevator, speed up the preparation of grain, its drying,” said Oleg Surenshchikov, manager of training and personnel development of Nibulon. “We need such training, which will allow us to know more about European and American grain quality standards, because we supply grain to world markets.” 

The project also provided training to 66 chefs-in-training at vocational institutions, who  created updated school menus. 

“I have long dreamed of changing the typical school menu so that children would want to eat what was prepared for them,” said Yevhen Klopotenko, head of the Cult Food NGO and instructor of the course. “First I published a recipe book, and then decided to teach chefs how to cook the dishes. To do this, we cooperated with vocational and technical education institutions that train chefs who then work in schools. I am grateful that I was able to join the project and show cooks what school lunches can be like. I believe that with such steps, in a few years we will change the entire school food system. I longed for social changes, so I decided to tackle ordinary schools, so  the scale of change would be large.”  

Conference participants also discussed cooperation between educational institutions, communities and businesses, vocational education needs, implementation and development of new programs, and retraining of the adult population. Many expressed the need for further training or retraining of a variety of specialists, which will be critical to helping Ukraine’s economy recover.