Evaluation of the Victim-Offender Mediation Programme

The Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCCG), established in 1994, has for the past three years been implementing a pilot project in Victim- Offender Mediation (VOM) – the oldest, most widely used, and most research-based expression of restorative justice. VOM is a process that gives interested crime victims the opportunity to meet the offender with a trained mediator in a safe and structured setting, with the goal of holding offenders directly accountable for their behaviour while providing important assistance and compensation to the victim.

Launched in 2003, the Ukrainian VOM programme is currently implementing pilot projects in seven regions – Chernivtsi, Crimea, Ivano- Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Luhansk and Sumy. Initiatives in Odessa and Lviv did not provide any tangible results.

Key findings of the evaluation:

• Major reasons that referred cases did not meet in mediation included insufficient information, advice of lawyers not to participate, refusal of the offender to admit guilt, and lack of interest in meeting
• Ukrainian law significantly complicates the process of referring cases to mediation and following up on referrals
• In some of the juvenile offender cases, the youths were apparently not required to contribute directly to the compensation
• Explicit community representation in the VOM process is present in some regions but not in all

It is recommended that the UCCG:

• Continue to implement creative solutions to referral procedure problems while working toward national legislation to clarify and improve referral procedures
• Preserve the valuable regional flexibility in meeting differing regional situations
• Continue to develop creative ways to hold juveniles accountable within the constraints of current Ukrainian juvenile law

• Read the Summary of the Evaluation
• Read the Full Evaluation

This entry was posted in Europe, Evaluations, Resources and tagged Ukraine Evaluations on December 28, 2007.

Radio Drama Series “Our Street”: A Focus Group Evaluation

The Search for Common Ground (SFGC) Office in Washington, D.C. commissioned InterMedia to carry out a series of focus groups to evaluate a radio drama series “Our Street” developed and produced by the Ukrainian Center for Common Ground (UCCG). The primary and overall objective of the radio program is to facilitate inter-ethnic understanding, conflict prevention in a multicultural context, and conflict resolution among young people in Crimea, an autonomous republic within Ukraine. InterMedia designed the study in accordance with SCG’s specifications and contracted the Kyiv-based marketing research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) to carry out four focus group discussions in Simferopol and Sevastopol Crimea in early October 2002. The purpose of the focus groups – one with young (15 to 19 year old) Ukrainians and Russians and one with young (15 to 19 year old) Crimean Tatars in each city – was to solicit feedback on thirteen 15-minute episodes of programming and to explore the impact of the programming on stereotypical views. The radio program achieved its main objectives: it focused listener attention on inter-ethnic issues and problems and succeeded in delivering the cluster of interrelated messages that it intended to deliver – for example, that ethnicity should serve neither as a basis for conflict nor as a barrier to resolving conflict situations.

• Read the Evaluation Report
• Read the Key Findings

This entry was posted in Europe, Evaluations, Resources and tagged Ukraine Evaluations on October 28, 2002.