UNDP in Ukraine

Democratic governance is a prerequisite for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Good democratic governance stems from the encounter between a   representative, well-run state on one hand and informed, engaged, active citizens on the other. UNDP assists the Government of Ukraine in advancing the democratic policies and practices needed to accelerate progress on human development, by:

• Advancing institutional reforms;
• Empowering civil society;
• Promoting decentralization and local governance;
• Advocating for human rights and gender equality; and
• Ensuring that all Ukrainian citizens can enjoy access to justice.

Context situation in Ukraine:

Ukraine has recorded significant achievements in its consolidation as an independent and internationally recognised State, committed to the values of a democratic society and a market-economy.

Despite experiencing an initial steep decline in social indicators, the country's economy is displaying clear signs of continuing growth, while civil society is becoming ever more engaged in the decision-making progress. This progress, however, has not reached all levels of Ukrainian society. Ukraine still has a significant path to travel to complete its transformation. On its path towards integration with its European neighbours and the global community at large, democratic governance issues are becoming increasingly more prominent in national and community dialogue.

The challenges of transition from highly centralized totalitarian system of governance into democracy were answered with mixed successes until 2004.  The Orange Revolution led Ukraine to a possibility of fundamental reforms across all levels.  Four years after the Orange Revolution, both the great expectations and the great challenges are still a feature of the social and political landscape of the country.  One of the main progresses to register was the conduction of free and fair elections, and the resurgence of the media and civil society.  However, political instability has weakened the prospects for a continuing and robust improvement in the country's democratic performance.  While there have been important advances, reforms remain incomplete in many crucial areas, such as decentralization, judicial reform and civil service.  The inability to find workable political compromises, pervasive corruption, and lack of a generally accepted constitutional framework hold back Ukraine's political development.

UNDP's response in Ukraine:

Consistently with the priorities of the Government of Ukraine's programme and the EU-Ukraine Action plan, and as articulated by the UNDP Ukraine Country Programme Action Plan (2006-2010), UNDP's Democratic Governance work focuses on (1) administrative reform and civil society empowerment; (2) decentralization and local governance; (3) judicial reform and human rights; (4) gender equality; and (5) regional integration/improvement of border management.

UNDP works to strengthen public administration reform and public access to government through institutional reforms and anticorruption measures. UNDP provides high-level policy advice in the field of justice reform, and supported the development of the Draft law "On the Bodies of Self-Organisation of Population", the key legal framework on decentralization and local governance. Through the Civil Service Reform project, the organization provides high-level policy support to the Government of Ukraine on public administration reform issues and technical assistance to the Main Department of the Civil Service of Ukraine (MDCS) in elaboration and implementation of the concept of civil service reform, as well as on the establishment of a standing training capacity for the highest-ranking servants within the MDCS.

In the area of civil society empowerment, UNDP has been especially active in promoting social mobilization for consumer rights protection, through the Consumer Society and Citizens Networks project. The project increases access of citizens to information about product safety, consumer rights protection, and results of independent testing, and it is promoting wide public discussions and capacity building to advance consumer rights protection.

As a response to the decentralization and local governance challenges in Ukraine, UNDP's programmes on Municipal Government and Sustainable Development, Chernobyl Recovery and Development, the Community Based Approach to Local Development, and Crimea Integration and Development facilitate community-based social mobilization, support community-led development and engage local authorities in participatory, transparent processes of local sustainable development.

In support of anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, UNDP has provided high-level policy advice on the policy framework for combating corruption and since 2006, UNDP has been providing technical and administrative support to the Secretariat of the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. UNDP's activities in the area of regional integration and border management, through the EUBAM project, contribute to both public service delivery and anti-corruption, by enhancing transparency about import/export flows from the Transnistrian region of Moldova, as well as by building the capacity of Ukraine's border management authorities.

Through the Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities project, UNDP supports Government and civil society efforts to promote gender equality in Ukraine in line with international, constitutional and legal commitments of Ukraine. UNDP helps drafting and implementing policies, laws and regulations on gender equality to increase representation of women at all levels in the legislative and executive branches of government. UNDP also helps to increase the gender sensitivity of Government programmes and strategies at national and local level, promotes gender equality in the education system, and fights domestic violence by improving Government's capacities for prevention and response efforts.

Future outlook for Ukraine:

In the next few years, starting from 2008, UNDP Ukraine expects to continue focusing on the promotion of public administration reform, open government practices, citizens' participation, human rights, and public access to information to make Regional (oblast) and local officials directly accountable to their publics. In particular, UNDP plans to work on comprehensive projects to support greater transparency and responsiveness at all levels of government, as well as citizens' engagement in government's policy-making processes. With regard to the promotion of human rights and access to justice, UNDP is planning on launching a project on human rights training for the judiciary and prosecutors, in collaboration with UNICEF, IOM, OHCHR and UNAIDS.