Results from the IWISE-Kharkiv Re-training Program, 1998-2001

Overview

From 1998-2001 IWISE successfully implemented a program of professional
development courses and career services in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Our main partners in this
program were National Technical University – Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, NGO
Perspectives, and the U.S. State Department. In addition we received crucial help from
former IWISE leadership program participants based in Kharkiv, from colleagues in
several offices at ISU, and from community college and state government officials in Iowa.
During the three-year period more than 600 mid-career scientists and engineers in Kharkiv
participated in our program and served as teachers, career consultants, and volunteers.
More than 40 teachers learned new instructional strategies and incorporated them in the
courses they taught for our program and also into their regular courses. In many cases
they had to learn new subject matter, such as preparing resumes, interviewing skills, etc.,
and had to learn how to teach this subject matter in six-eight hour courses using new
methods targeted to adult learners. We are grateful to all those who worked hard to make
this program a success.

While participants said they benefited from all of the course work, soft skills courses
were almost universally mentioned as very helpful to their career development. Team
members see the value of topics like Working in Teams, Grant Writing, and Leadership
Development. Participants and project staff were also pleased at the success of the career
services offered by the program’s Career Center staff. Now we are pleased to start up
another 3-year grant to focus on economic development, offer training to Kharkiv
businesses, and extend our work to other science and university centers across Ukraine.
The information below comes from a special evaluation study done by program
participants in spring 2001. At the request of the program’s CC staff twenty-six
program participants submitted essays ahead of the Center’s second career conference.
We hope the results will provide ideas of value to women scientists in other parts of the
world. The staff of the Career Center developed this exercise so that participants would
have a forum to hear about each others’ professional successes. Examination of the
resulting "success" stories yields interesting information on the extent of participation in
the program, how respondents think the program helped them, and what kind of
"success" participants believe occurred.Who were the program participants?
The women participating in the success story competition were representative of the
larger population of women scientists who took part in the Retraining program. The
basic requirement for participation was an advanced scientific and/or engineering degree
and at least five years’ work experience. As a result the sample includes women with
both science and engineering degrees, women who had worked in academia, in research
institutes reporting to the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and women who had held a
range of technical jobs in state enterprises. The list of academic specialties represented,
which included biological, physical, medical sciences, and various engineering disciplines,
is also quite broad.

Most of the changes in job and career that we heard about anecdotally during our work in
Kharkiv are represented. For example, some women improved their situation while
continuing to be employed in the same organization. Others found new and better
positions working for different organizations. A small number of women started (or re-
started) small business ventures. Others pursued new education and training while
receiving unemployment benefits or while on maternity leave. And some are finding a
role for their interests and talents in the emerging nonprofit sector.

A range of workplaces is represented. Two women, who had previously worked as
engineers, reported that they now have their own businesses. Another said she had
worked for 15 years in a hospital. After taking re-training courses, she reported taking a
position as head of a laboratory in another organization and then moving again the next
year to work in a laboratory of medical genetics. A third reported that, thanks to her
work in the program, she become a medical representative in a pharmaceutical firm. Like
others in the program, two of the women participating in the success story project were
working on advanced (PhD and Doc. Sciences) degrees.

Some women say they used the program to re-tool their skills after being out of the job
market for various reasons. For example, the woman home on maternity leave reported
getting a job at a medical research institute in another part of Ukraine. Here’s how she
put her situation. "When I decided to find a job after spending three years at home, I
found that I was not at all familiar with the standards of today’s employer. I was not
ready to answer the questions that were being asked, did not know how to use a
computer, and could not write a resume." The "soft skills" courses – about job
interviews, choosing a career, and communications skills – helped her get a job when she
had not been able to do so before.

Another commonly voiced theme is that the re-training program enabled people who had
already tried to jump-start a new career – and failed the first time – to summon the
courage to try again. One woman, an engineer by training, told how after being fired in
1993 she had tried and failed to start her own business in 1999. She liked the program
because, as a result of the new skills and self-confidence gained through the courses, "I
feel like a person who is not completely old-fashioned, began to respect myself and feel
respect from others."

Psychological support from program staff and fellow participants
Many of the respondents talked, as the women in the last two examples did, about the
psychological support they got from their participation in the Re-training program.
Comments showed increased self-confidence gained from acquiring new knowledge and
skills, from hearing about scientific and technical workers face the same problems in the
U.S., from contact with the Ukrainian instructors, and networking with other participants
in the program. Sometimes that psychological growth allowed the participant to give up
one job to move to a better one despite worries about the future. Others were able to
accept the loss of a job to which one had devoted several years of work.

" I didn’t make an unbelievable career, didn’t win a grant, etc. From the first glance, the
Program did not help me with anything," one woman reported. Instead, watching the
other women in the program, she learned that she decided that she could also be
successful. She continued, "… believing in success is half of the way. This means that
we reached the midway together, and I hope that the knowledge I got from the Program
will help me reach the end faster and easier."

A woman who moved to another job talked about increased confidence gained from the
program, which encouraged her to take risks with her career. Others echoed the idea that
it is necessary to be active and not passive. "In the Program I saw how many women –
smart, well-educated – strive to change themselves, their lives and the environment for the
better, what enthusiastic women are working for the Program. This served as a very
powerful push for me." This woman’s comments show how new skills and attitudes are
developing as participants develop new personal and professional networks.
Often the women mention both psychological support and information gained about the
outside world. Sometimes this information comes directly from their interaction with the
American staff. More often, though, the communication process goes through the
Ukrainian staff who tell the participants what they learned about the situation in the U.S.
from participating in the program’s exchanges. For example, a woman who got help
running her own business credited her new-found success with "world-class knowledge"
and becoming familiar with "progressive women’s movements in other countries."
Speaking about the changes since "perestroika" began, she said she knows that it is
important to learn about how things work in other countries and how others are coping
with the changes. Ukrainians can benefit from this information, she wrote, so they don’t
have to "reinvent the wheel."Information about courses, instructors, and knowledge gained
Some of the women participating in this exercise cited specific courses or emphases in the
program curriculum. For example, several remarked on the usefulness of the combination
of English, Economics, and Personal Growth for engaging the new job market emerging in
the Kharkiv region. Those interested in small business often focused on what they
learned from the economics and business courses, in particular, courses on business
planning, project management, and related courses. Grant-writing was frequently
mentioned by those seeking financial support for scientific projects in their universities
and institutes. Also mentioned favorably were the computer and career skills courses
offered.

Some confessed to have been skeptical at first that short courses could impart useful
knowledge and know-how. As a programmer noted, "(i)t is impossible to (get all the
basic knowledge) during such a short period, and they did not have such a goal. However,
the most important things the program gave us, are teaching how to understand the
realities of the new economical (sic) situation, showing where to look for the answers to
…questions, helping to understand yourself and the people around you." These qualms
were eased by the instructors. Here’s how a biologist put the issue. "One thing that is
important in the Program is that most of the instructors are successful women in science,
teaching, …When you look at them, you can’t feel sorry for yourself and say, ‘it’s easy
for them to talk about success, I have a home, a family, and competition at work,’ as we
might have said if the instructors were men."

The also grew to appreciate a different style of learning which is grounded in the adult
education pedagogy employed in the U.S. in professional development programs. "In the
classes there is a dialogue between the instructor and the students, and you are always
independently searching for solutions to the problems presented. This kind of learning
helps not only easily understand the material, but it adds self-confidence."

Respondents volunteered compliments about the instructors’ command of the knowledge
of these new subjects and their willingness to work with the participants. One woman
thanked the program for the time that Michael Dovgopol, a young instructor who headed
up the Career Center, gave to the program. Another particularly appreciated the
enthusiasm of the instructors because the material was an unfamiliar subject. Referring to
the Ukrainian project director, this woman noted: "I like my (new) job, I like the fact that
I can see and understand how the laws of economics, which Elena Reshetnyak talked so
enthusiastically about, worked." Participants also credited support provided by the
program’s Ukrainian university partner, the well-respected Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute,
and the fact that they were able to use classrooms in KPI’s impressive Rector’s building.
The courses offered in the ISU-KPI program, in the view of the participants in this
exercise, contributed to new knowledge, which helped them improve their career
prospects and connect to the outside world. Not only knowledge and understanding, but
skills – especially in the fields of communication and management – were deemed
important. One woman, who got help to run her business better, said that the program
improved her leadership skills, including making business plans and interesting employees
in accomplishing common goals.

Most focused on personal benefits but a few mentioned contributions that they wanted
to be able to make to the larger society. "I want," one wrote, "to be a successful woman,
to build a good society, in which I will live with my family and friends."Timing
A final theme running through these essays is the effects of the program over time. The
papers show that the first effects are psychological. The women report that they gain
pleasure and self-confidence by working with others who share common goals. The
classes are hard work and "fun" at the same time. Participants’ self-confidence increases
because they feel successful in mastering the course work and is reinforced when they
hear about others’ successes.

After knowledge, skills, and self-confidence increase, it may still take some time for the
job improvements to show up. For example, a year after her participation in the program,
one of the women got a new job working as a medical representative in a pharmaceutical
firm. She saw this as a real success because she had not had any experience in this line of
work. She feels that the program gave her the training needed for this work. Even before
the career success occurs, several participants noted a change in how friends, colleagues at
work, and family members began to view them. What this woman called the "brighter
colors" that she is adding to her life were clearly visible.

In sum, as can be seen in the comments of the biologist mentioned before, this woman
cited practical outcomes – knowledge gained about grants, business communications, etc.
– along with a new mental approach. "I started to see my problems not as irritants, but
as possibilities for new goals, to see new ways to complete (sic) them, and most
importantly, not fearing and wanting to act."