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Ukraine launches new action plan to make the government more open

Kyiv, 30 November 2016 – the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a new action plan for the implementation of the Open Governement Partnership Initiative in 2016-2018.

 
3The new action plan addresses the challenges in five priority areas of the Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP): improving public services; increasing integrity in government; more effective management of public resources; creating safe communities; improving corporate accountability.

In particular, the action plan envisages the implementation of measures that aim to improve the quality and transparency of administrative service provision; to introduce administrative services in electronic form; to introduce a declaration system for civil servants; to introduce a provision for free access to urban planning documentation; to implement the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST); to ensure accountability of public construction work; to start the implementation of the Transparent Budget system; to introduce a provision on transparency in public procurement; to introduce a monitoring system for the environment; to develop a draft law on public consultations; and to further develop e-democracy.

The Government expects that the new action plan will ensure the proper implementation of the OGP initiative in Ukraine, and will contribute to the progress of public administration and anti-corruption reforms, as well as to strenghening the cooperation between the executive authorities and civil society institutions.

1The approved action plan was presented at the fourth OGP Global Summit 2016 in Paris, taking place these days (December 7-9). Ukraine's efforts to make the government more open and accountable were recognized by the international community, and the country received the first Open Government Award for its initiative for Open Procurement ProZorro, which introduces transparent procurement practices and prevents from corruption in the area. Ukraine also received special recognition for the involvement of youth in the project.

Ukraine joined the OGP initiative in 2011. Due to the initiative, the Government of Ukraine intends to fundamentally change the approaches to the development and implementation of state policy, make the decision-making more open and transparent and ensure that these decisions meet the expectations of the Ukrainian citizens. The implementation of the OGP initiative is a powerful tool for the democratisation of the state as a whole. The two-years action plans are carried out by the state executive agencies and civil society institutions in close cooperation.

The new action plan approved on November 30, 2016 is the third one to implement the intiative in Ukraine. The implementation of previous action plans resulted in a number of achievements in the area of public consultation procedures; expert review of the work of executive agencies; opening of archives of the Soviet time; access to public information through open data; unified state portal for administrative services; system of electronic appeal submission; unified web portal on the use of public funds. According to the index on open government "World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2015 for Eastern Europe and Central Asia", in 2015 Ukraine occupied the 4th position.

48745698706076Over the years, UNDP has been a consistent supporter of open and transparent governance in Ukraine. It has supported the government in its efforts to organize meaningful dialogue with civil society on priorities such as anti-corruption, e-governance, administrative services effectiveness, and participatory decision-making – all within the realm of Ukraine's OGP commitments. Amongst other things, UNDP worked side by side the Government of Ukraine as a reliable long-term partner to organize the OGP national consultations that ultimately resulted in producing the national action plan. It was a breakthrough as it largely (by 80% at least) consisted of the proposals submitted by Ukrainian civil society – more than 400 proposals from CSOs nationwide were considered in the elaboration process. After the Open Government Partnership's reload in June 2015, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine initiated work of the OGP Coordination Council's 6 working groups with UNDP's active participation.