Thirty best public figures and investigative journalists from Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Kremenchuk, Novohrad-Volynskyi, Dnipropetrovsk, Lysychansk, Rivne, Kharkiv, Perechyn, Lviv, Irpin, Starobilsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, and Kyiv were selected from among 280 applicants.

 

Over three days, the participants of the School had an opportunity to share their experience of anticorruption activities in their regions, brainstorm the best projects, and immerse into anti-corruption practices together with experts of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, the project "Our money", the Public Lustration Committee, the "Eidos" Center, the Transparency International Ukraine, and the Center for Political and Legal Reforms. Ruslan Riaboshapka, member of the newly established anticorruption agency – the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, was one of the coaches, which became a pleasant surprise for the participants who discussed with him the features of the anticorruption model chosen by Ukraine.

 

"Concentration of experts in one place, concentration of the interested public figures provides knowledge and energy, when you see that you are really moving in the right direction. Such schools allow us to find new partners and master effective tools for action at the local level," shared her impressions Larysa Horyslavets, participant of the Second UNDP Anticorruption School from Kremenchuk.

 

This year Ukraine plans to complete the launch of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption. Both the National Agency, and the public will soon have access to the electronic system of asset declarations of officials, as well as a possibility to check them. It is, therefore, important to understand which instruments the public has to check the declarations and how to act if a conflict of interest is identified. In this context, the participants learned:

• Who shall submit declarations in 2016 and how;
• How to compare the information in declarations with the registers of property and how they are connected;
• What is a conflict of interests and which legislation regulates it;
• Preventing and resolving conflict of interest in governmental agencies and analysis of judicial practice;
• Responsibility for corruption;
• How to organize advocacy campaign and cooperate with media.

 

"A phenomenon of corruption is not unique for Ukraine. However, Ukrainian civil society is really unique. Each anticorruption law adopted passed the public review and was actually advocated by public activists," said Ruslan Riaboshapka, member of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.

 

The participants of the Second UNDP Anti-Corruption School have a chance to apply the new knowledge they obtained while implementing their own projects started during the workshops.

 

UNDP will continue training the most active participants of the School and offers an opportunity to get a mini-grant to continue the anti-corruption initiatives at the local level.

 

"Without the public, the NAPC will not be able to properly control the officials' declarations and identify the conflict of interests. Thus, our goal is to give this program a national scale and engage as many responsible citizens from all over Ukraine as possible," stressed Sofia Kovach, UNDP Capacity Building Expert.

 

This initiative is organised under the framework of Enhanced Public Sector Transparency and Integrity Project in Ukraine, implemented by UNDP and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.