GlobalPittsburgh (formerly the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors) arranged for a group of five journalists from Ukraine to meet with Local Government Academy Wednesday, May 4, 2016. The group, entitled “Government Transparency / Access to Public Information,” had been invited to the U.S. by the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress.

The group consisted of five delegates: Nadiia Anatoliivna Babynska, Journalist, Hromadske Radio; Alina Oleksiivna Diachenko, Journalist-“Access to Truth” project at the Center UA; Kateryna Anatoliivna Kapliuk, Journalist-Radio Liberty, Economic Truth; Oksana Volodymyrivna Kovalenko, Editor/Journalist-Ukraiyinska Pravda (internet publication); Yaroslav Sergiyovich Muraviov, Communications Manager-NGO Center, UA. Accompanying the group was Veronika Gryshchenko, a facilitator from Ukraine, and Caroline Tibbets, a GlobalPittsburgh Coordinator, as well as Olga Shostachuk, an interpreter.

Among the topics discussed were journalism and reporting, mass-media, public access to information, transparency and the availability of data, legislation concerning the availability of data and budget information to the public, civil activism, training and teaching to journalists and activists, and Local Government Academy’s Newly Elected Officials Course and how it emphasizes ethics and accountability.