TI Ukraine shares its experience in the implementation of the Open Government Partnership Initiative with Eurasian countries.

Transparency International Ukraine presented its experience in the implementation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative as part of the first international meeting on open governance in Eurasian countries, which took place in Kyiv. Thirty-six chapters of Transparency International global movement (39% of all chapters) are involved and collaborate with the governments on the initiatives of public accountability, including OGP.

Introducing new standards for cooperation between the government and civil society, cooperation with the international organizations, the ProZorro public e-procurement system and e-declaration aroused the greatest interest for foreign guests. The important decision was TI Ukraine’s joining to “Paris Declaration”, the initiative with three basic priority tasks: disclosure of information on beneficiaries, dialogue between government and civil society using modern information and communication technologies, as well as e-procurement.

According to the TI expert in governance, Olesia Arkhypska, the OGP Initiative has great results in Ukraine due to proactive position of the civil society: “The Initiative mechanism is a unique possibility for transformation and development of the system for proper responsible governance. Our immediate task is not only further transformation of the system for interaction between institutions of civil society and governmental establishments in Ukraine, corruption counteraction, but development of transnational platform for stakeholders.

Representatives of both countries-members of the Initiative and countries, which hadn’t joined it yet, as well as representatives of the Steering Committee and Assistance Group of the OGP (the USA) attended the meeting. Authorities and civil society from Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia and Tajikistan discussed best practices of implementation of the OGP International Initiative to provide transparency and accountability of the state policy, corruption counteraction and engagement of civil society to decision-making process.

The Partnership representative Shreya Basu presented basic information on the initiative, its mission and results of the activity during five years of its existence, as well as further prospects for the initiative development.

Chief operational director of the Institute for natural resources administration, member of the Steering Committee of the Initiative Suneeta Kaimal focused on the OGP advantages and importance of exchange experience between countries of the Eurasian region. “Ukraine is one of the key players in the Partnership and can be an example for inspiring other countries to reform open governance,” she mentioned.

President of the Open Government Institute of Moldova Veronika Cretu mentioned that the OGP helps Ukraine to be unique and ambitious in reforming, but this is especially important in crisis.

Deputy Director of the Department for Information and Communication with Civil Society, Head of the Department for Development of Civil Society and Communication at the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers Nataliia Oksha presented Ukrainian experience on the Initiative implementation and informed on new direction of its development.

According to the report “Open Government Index” World Justice Project 2015 Ukraine took the 43rd position among 102 countries of the world. In the group “Countries of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia” Ukraine was ranked 4th after Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. They assessed the countries (both members and non-members) according to four criteria: publicity of laws and data on the government, right to information, citizens’ participation and mechanisms for appeals submission. Countries-members have higher position in the rating.

TI Ukraine is a partner in the implementation of the National Action Plan of the Initiative, promotion of standards of responsible, proper, open governance and constant monitoring of the implementation process from the very beginning. The implementation status of the Initiative as of February 1, 2017 is presented in the infographics.

The international meeting “Open Government” Eurasian Dimension” was organized by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Institute for natural resources administration, International Renaissance Foundation. Assistance Group of the Open Government Partnership.

Note: on September 20, 2011, eight countries – co-founders (Brazil, the United States of America, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa and the United Kingdom) started the Open Government Partnership Initiative and signed the Partnership Declaration as part of the UN General Assemble session. As of February 1, 2017, seventy-five countries joined the Initiative.

Infographics on the Open Government Partnership Initiative is presented in UkrainianEnglish and Russian.