Kyiv, 6 December 2016 – The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) today presented to government's dedicated units and focal points a course outline and training handbook aimed at equipping trainers with the knowledge, skills and tools to deliver training sessions within their state agencies in order to effectively prevent corruption and minimise the occurrence of corrupt practices.

Indeed, the new regulatory environment, brought about the anti-corruption legislation passed in 2014, requires professional training to adjust the knowledge and practices of those public servants who must abide by these anti-corruption regulations in the conduct of their official duties within their respective agencies, ministries, and state-run companies.

"Through collaborative efforts of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, Cabinet of Ministers, and UNDP, the dedicated units will be equipped with practical tools for their daily work, take up good practices and lessons learned from NACP anti-corruption work. We encourage all of the participants to take a proactive stance and follow up with the trainers on any issues that they see as important for their everyday work," enthused UNDP Deputy Country Director, Blerta Cela.

The course outline and training handbook cover topics ranging from managing conflicts of interest in the work-place, such as managing procurement and recruitment policy, to ethical and legal regulations relating to gift acceptance, remuneration and hospitality, and prevention of "revolving door" situations, to name but a few.

The handbook specifically outlines 6 key questions to be systematically addressed in order to effectively avoid corrupt practices and situations:

1. What are the basic principles of anti-corruption policy in Ukraine?
2. How to conduct financial control and lifestyle monitoring of officials?
3. How to comply with the law on conflict of interest and other restrictions to prevent corruption?
4. What are ethical standards of conduct for persons authorized to perform state functions or local government and similar entities?
5. How whistleblowers are protected under Ukrainian legislation?
6. What are specific aspects of work of the authorized units on the prevention and detection of corruption?

Training participants were also informed of important asset declarations deadlines, tools and procedures to comply, actions to take in cases of substantial change of one's financial status, or when entering and leaving public service.

This workshop comes as a useful complement of the numerous actions already undertaken by UNDP to counter corruption in Ukraine, such as previous roundtables on conflict of interest prevention and management, assistance in developing the new system for asset declarations, and awareness raising campaigns nationwide such as the e-asset declaration roadshow, and the conflict of interest regulation roadshow benefiting over 2,000 officials.

This anti-corruption training course will lay the foundations for the practical work of dedicated units aiming to prevent corruption and help spread the knowledge through cascade trainings within ministries and government's sub-national offices.