Talking to Volodymyr Dibrova, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine

Peacekeeping English. To the Ukraine National Defence University for the handover ceremony for the Peacekeeping English Project (PEP). The PEP is based on a simple premise: to co-operate with people, you have to be able to communicate. Peacekeeping operations around the world are made up of soldiers from a myriad of countries, and the common language is English. The Ukrainian Armed Forces make an important contribution to international peace-keeping. In recent years they've worked all over the world, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia and Sudan, making an invaluable contribution to peace-keeping efforts. The PEP, a UK-funded project delivered through the British Council, has been training 2,000 officers and professional soldiers a year over a ten-year period. I hear inspiring stories of how Ukrainian personnel serving in the heat of the action were able to co-operate with colleagues from other armed forces to achieve their goals, thanks to their ability to communicate in English. PEP has also been training the teachers who will continue to teach English after the project handover and has set up a national postgraduate teacher development course leading to the University of Cambridge In-service Certificate of English Language Teaching (ICELT). Terrific stuff. At the ceremony, several military officers deliver their speeches in English, causing the ranks of teachers in the audience to bristle with pride.