Transparent, Financially Healthy and Competitive Self-governments in Ukraine

Dátum: 19.11.2014

Project is financed by the SlovakAid – Official Development Assistance of the Slovak Republic and Embassy of the United States, Kyiv, Ukraine.

Partner:

International Centre for Policy Studies

Duration:

October 15, 2015 – March 31, 2018

Objectives:

The main objective of the project is to support regional development in Ukraine through know-how transfer of successful projects implemented in Slovakia. By implementing the project, we would like to strengthen financial decentralization competences of municipalities, to strengthen their capacities at improving living condition of their citizens, to increase citizens’ awareness of self-government significance, financial sustainability and transparency.

The specific objectives of the project are:

  1. To intensify fight against corruption at local level by formulating the Anti-corruption measures reflecting anti-corruption priorities of Ukrainian self-government bodies and the best anti-corruption practices from Slovakia (e.g. publishing of public contracts on the Internet, public presence at meetings of self-government bodies, public recording of these meetings, etc.).
  2. To intensify public demand for efficient public spending of municipalities. An online portal on financial management of Ukrainian municipalities will be created; portal will dramatically improve information about municipalities’ fiscal management and will enable comparison of key debt and financial sustainability parameters. In this part of the project we plan to utilize unique know-how from a similar project, which has been successfully implemented in the Slovak Republic and led to a dramatic decline in debt of municipalities within last two years.
  3. To increase competitiveness of Ukrainian regions by creating an interactive competitiveness model and comprehensive analysis of competitive advantages and disadvantages of Ukrainian regions (districts). The analysis will examine the level and quality of economic activity, infrastructure, human resources and public administration in regions, will identify barriers for economic development and will propose competitiveness strategies for regions of the Ukraine. Know-how will be derived from a similar and successful project implemented in Slovakia.

Events:

Final Conference – “TRANSPARENT AND FINANCIALLY HEALTHY MUNICIPALITIES IN UKRAINE”
Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel (22 Yaroslaviv Val Street, Kyiv)
Date: March 20, 2018

Agenda:
09:30-10:00 – Registration, welcome coffee
10:00-12:00 – Conference
Moderator: Victor Mashtabey – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICPS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine
Opening
Peter Golias – Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO, Slovak Republic)
Iryna Stepanova – Communications director of the ICPS, Coordinator of the project “Transparent, financially sound and competitive municipalities in Ukraine”

Platform 1. Transparency of 50 largest cities in Ukraine
Moderator: Victor Mashtabey – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICPS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine
Yehor Kyian – Economic expert of the ICPS, Presentation of the updated ranking “Transparency of 50 largest cities in Ukraine: 2017”
Michal Piško – Project Coordinator of Transparency International Slovakia
Mykola Rubchak – Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine
Other representatives of state authorities

Platform 2. Financial health of budgets in the regions and region centers of Ukraine
Moderator: Victor Mashtabey – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICPS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine
Yehor Kyian – Economic expert of the ICPS, Presentation of the updated ranking “Financial health of budgets in the regions and region centers of Ukraine”, introduction to research methodology
Jakub Kmet – Expert in implementation of participatory decision making in Slovak municipalities.

Closing
11:30-11:45 – Discussion of the state authorities` position on current transparency issues in Ukraine’s municipalities
11:45-12:00 – Awarding ceremony for the winners of the Transparency and the Financial health rankings
12:00 – Final words and stand-up buffet

Seminar – “Financial health of budgets in the regions and region centers of Ukraine”
Venue: Ukrinform (8/16 Bohdana Khmelnytskogo Street)
Date: November 9, 2017

Agenda:
09.00–09.15 – registration of the participants
09.15–09.25 – welcome remarks by the ICPS representatives
09.25–09.50 – presentation of the major components of the project “Financial health of budgets in the regions and region centers of Ukraine” and an online platform, introduction to the methodology (Egor Kiyan, ICPS)
09.50–10.20 – Slovak experience (Peter Golyash, INEKO, Michal Pishko, Transparency International Slovakia)
10.20–10.45 – position of public authorities and society on topical issues of Financial health of the Ukrainian regions; discussion
10.45–11.00 – closing remarks, coffee break

Seminar – “Transparency of Regions of Ukraine: Presentation of Ranking”
Venue: Ukrinform (8/16 Bohdana Khmelnytskogo Street)
Date: June 26, 2017

Agenda:
09:45-10:00 – registration
10:00-10:10 – welcome speeches of the ICPS and INEKO representatives
10:10-10:20 – presentation of the main components of the project “Transparent, Financially Healthy and Competitive Self-governments in Ukraine” (Angela Bochi, ICPS)
10:20-10:30 – presentation of the ranking “Transparency of Regions of Ukraine”, review of methodology (Svitlana Radchenko, ICPS)
10:30-11:00 – Slovak experience (Peter Golias, INEKO; Michal Piško, Transparency International Slovakia)
11:00-11:15 – the position of state authorities and the public on current issues of transparency of Ukraine’s regions, discussion
11:15 – stand-up buffet

Conference – “Transparent, financially healthy and competitive local governments in Ukraine: presentation of online platforms”
Venue: InterContinental Kyiv (2A Velyka Zhytomyrska Street)
Date: March 3, 2017

Agenda:
09:45-10:00 – registration, welcome coffee
10:00-12:00 – conference
Moderator: Victor Mashtabey – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICPS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine
Opening
Victor Mashtabey – Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICPS, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine
Peter Golias – Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO, Slovak Republic)
Oksana Prodan – PD of Ukraine, Chairman of the All-Ukrainian association of small and medium businesses “Fortetsya”
Andriy Strannikov – Chairman of the Standing Committee of Kyiv City Council on budget issues and the socio-economic development

Platform 1. Transparency of 50 largest cities in Ukraine

Veronika Kharuk – legal expert of the ICPS
Presentation of the online platform “Transparency of 50 largest cities in Ukraine”, introduction to research methodology
Michal Piško – Project Coordinator of Transparency International Slovakia
Transparency rating in Slovakia
Yanika Merylo – Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine
Pavlo Kozyrev – Mayor of Ukrainka city

Platform 2. Competitive capability of regions and regional assessment of business climate in Ukraine

Moderator: Vasyl Filipchuk – Chairman of the ICPS
Vasyl Povoroznyk – Senior economist of the ICPS
Presentation of the online platform «Competitive capability of regions and regional assessment of business climate in Ukraine», introduction to research methodology Olexandr Danchenko – PD of Ukraine, Chairman of the Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Information and Communication
Robert Kičina – Business Alliance of Slovakia
Competitiveness rating of local governments
Sergii Tsivkach – Chairman of the Board of Development Competition Fund

Platform 3. Transparency of local budgets

Moderator: Vasyl Filipchuk – Chairman of the ICPS
Angela Bochi – Director of the Economic Department of ICPS
Presentation of the online platform «Transparency of local budgets and their regional centers», introduction to research methodology
Peter Golias – Director of the Institute of Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO, Slovak Republic)
Best Slovak practices on assessing financial health rating
Hasan Qaqaya – former Head of Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)
13:00 – stand-up buffet

Press conference
Date: December 19, 2016
Presenting update of the portal on budget transparency of regions and their capital cities in Ukraine

Online platform “Local budgets transparency”
Venue: 8/16 B. Khmelnytskoho str., Kyiv, the “Ukrinform” office
Date: June 30, 2016

Agenda:
09:45-10:00 Registration
10:00-10:10 Welcoming speeches of ICPS and INEKO representatives
10:10-10:25 Presentation of the online-platform, review of the methodology (Angela Bochi, ICPS)
10:25-10:40 Slovak experience of applying the financial health rating of local budgets for the economic policy development (report by Peter Goliash, INEKO)
10:40-10:55 Best experience in increasing transparency and fight against corruption on local governments in Slovakia (Michal Pisko, Transperancy International, Slovakia)
10:55-11:30 Discussion and closing remarks

Kick Off Seminar in Kyiv
Venue: ІА “Ukrinform”, 8/16 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Str., Kyiv
Date: November 12th, 2015

Agenda:
09:45 – 10:00 Registration of participants
10:00 – 10:10 Welcome speech of an ICPS representative
10:10 – 10:30 Local Watchdogs in Ensuring Control over Public Finances in Ukraine (ICPS)
10:30 – 10:50 Transparent, financially healthy and competitive municipalities in Ukraine, (Peter Golias, INEKO)
10:50 – 11:10 Competitiveness model of Slovak municipalities: experiences for Ukraine, (Robert Kicina, Business Alliance of Slovakia)
11:10 – 11:30 Discussion and concluding remarks
11:30 – 12:00 Informal discussion at coffee break

Outputs:

Internet portals:

Project documents:

Presentations:

Newsletters:

Media and other outputs:

Photos from Final Conference

Photos from Seminar – “Financial health of budgets in the regions and region centers of Ukraine”

Photos from Seminar – “Transparency of Regions of Ukraine: Presentation of Ranking”

Photos from Conference – “Transparent, financially healthy and competitive local governments in Ukraine: presentation of online platforms”

Photos from Online platform “Local budgets transparency”

Photos from Kick Off Seminar in Kyiv