Shaping the Future: TI Ukraine’s 2023 Anti-Corruption Achievements!

At the end of the second year of the war, we continued overcoming wartime challenges and making Ukraine stronger.

In 2023, Transparency International Ukraine experts supported reforms, analyzed legislation, enhanced our anti-corruption ecosystem, and promoted changes necessary for Ukraine’s European integration.

All this would have been impossible without the efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine protecting us from Russian aggressors. We are especially grateful to our defenders and, in particular, to the members of our team who joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine so that we could successfully work for the benefit of the state in the rear. We also express our gratitude to donors and international partners who continue supporting our country and our organization in particular.

So, at the end of the year, let us look back on the greatest achievements of the challenging year 2023.

Traditionally, our year began with the presentation of the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, in which Ukraine showed a positive result — an increase by 1 point. This growth may seem insignificant, but over the past 10 years, our country’s indicator has increased by 8 points. With such dynamics, Ukraine is among the 25 countries that have significantly improved their results in the study over the past decade. This result confirms that Ukraine, despite this time being the most difficult, continues to make steady anti-corruption progress. 

In 2023, TI Ukraine closely monitored competitions for the heads of two anti-corruption bodies at once: the NABU and the ARMA. We monitored the work of the selection commissions, listened carefully, and checked every word of the candidates during the interviews. In fact, we collected whole “dossiers” and shared the data with the representatives of the selection commissions so that they could select truly professional heads of anti-corruption institutions with a high integrity level. At the same time, we published analytical materials, including a detailed analysis of the candidates and the course of the competitive selection.

TI Ukraine had some reservations about the competitive selection for the ARMA head. We had remarks regarding the work of the selection commission and especially regarding the candidate it elected. Therefore, we called on the government not to appoint Olena Duma as the head of the ARMA due to her lack of relevant experience and questionable integrity. We were heard but not heeded. However, we did not stop and continued monitoring the work of the Agency, promptly reporting violations and shortcomings in its activities.

Our experts helped with the selection of new SAPO prosecutors for the second year in a row. In total, over the course of the year, we analyzed 100+ profiles of participants in various competitions.

Now, our experts are already following the new competition to select the head of the NACP, which should be completed in early 2024.

In total, in 2023, TI Ukraine experts analyzed more than 100 anti-corruption legislative and regulatory acts and advocated for or against their adoption. We issued 23 public statements; in particular, we called for the restoration of e-declarations, the election of a worthy ARMA head, the adoption of the State Anti-Corruption Program (SAP), and demanded not to hold elections during the war.

And not in vain; our calls were heeded.

Through the joint efforts of civil society and international partners, the Cabinet adopted the SAP in March, which contains specific steps to systematically combat corruption in various fields. This plan is to be applied until 2025. In October, the Verkhovna Rada restored e-declaration and opened public access to the register of declarations. Therefore, today Ukrainians have the opportunity to view data on the assets of officials, and a little later, the NACP will check the new declarations for 2022–2023.

These and other important achievements eventually led Ukraine to the negotiations on its accession to the European Union. After all, the implementation of reforms, including anti-corruption ones, was among the main requirements for the opening of official negotiations after we had been granted the status of a candidate for the EU.

TI Ukraine promoted the interests of our state at specialized international conferences in Estonia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and other countries. Our colleagues took part in several panels on the topics of countering corruption in conditions of war, European integration, transparent governance, the role of the community in reconstruction, etc.

Thus, during the Recovery Conference in London, Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director of TI Ukraine, had the honor of meeting King Charles III. In addition, our organization, together with the partners, organized a separate event on transparency in reconstruction processes. Jointly with the Basel Institute on Governance (Switzerland), we presented the second policy paper on those anti-corruption tools that are not yet powerful enough to ensure the integrity of reconstruction spending. 

Of course, our projects — DOZORRO and the Transparent Cities program — were actively operating.

DOZORRO continuously checked thousands of procurement transactions. Upon our inquiries, law enforcement officers opened 41 criminal proceedings. In addition, in more than 200 procurement transactions, violations were confirmed by the State Audit Service. In almost a hundred cases, procuring entities responded to our comments on their own: they amended the terms of procurement transactions and canceled those tenders that could not be corrected. This allowed addressing the problems even before the implementation of the contract and payments; we are talking about orders for UAH 514 mln.

We are also pleased that TI Ukraine received the Prozorro Awards for the development of our public analytics module BI Prozorro. This is the most powerful tool for analyzing public procurement data that currently exists in Ukraine; it is used by the government, supervisory bodies, journalists, scientists, and, of course, procuring entities and participants in public procurement.

The Transparent Cities program presented the first “wartime” study of city transparency. Analysts evaluated 70 cities according to updated criteria, considering the challenges of the war and the significant restrictions on transparency in the legislation. Based on the results of the study, we held about 10 consultations with cities, where we provided recommendations to cities on how to enhance the transparency of governance during martial law. At the beginning of 2024, the program experts will evaluate how the city councils implemented these recommendations.

Our analysts developed a comprehensive decolonization guide providing step-by-step explanations to local authorities and residents on how to clear the space of their cities from the imperial and Soviet legacies.

In parallel, TI Ukraine experts presented 19 in-depth studies on the work of anti-corruption bodies, confiscation of Russian assets, city transparency practices, de-Russification in cities, public-private partnerships, monitoring of public procurement, etc. Comprehensive analysis of processes and data allows us to offer truly sound and effective solutions that can enhance Ukraine’s anti-corruption progress.

In July, TI Ukraine launched a special platform on the confiscation (pro-)Russian assets. Our lawyers collected up-to-date information on how much, where, and from whom among the Russians and collaborators money, cars, enterprises, etc. had already been confiscated. We also explained which mechanisms exist to seize assets in Ukraine, where there are certain risks, and how to neutralize them.

In addition, the TI Ukraine team, in cooperation with the Info Sapiens agency, presented the results of two waves of sociological research in which Ukrainians were asked about their vision of the future reconstruction and their views, fears, and expectations.

In the most difficult time for the country, we financially supported municipal authorities within the framework of the Emergency Cities Support Fund. The city councils of Sievierodonetsk, Kropyvnytskyi, Lysychansk, Bakhmut, Zaporizhzhia, Konotop, Kupiansk, Nikopol, Pokrovsk, Sloviansk, Sumy, Kherson, and others received assistance; a total of 19 cities were included in this list.

We provided assistance in the form of motor pumps for pumping water, generators, charging stations, heaters for shelters and accommodation for IDPs, furniture, and equipment for IDP support centers and veterans, and other equipment that allowed our cities to function.

We also supported our invincible army by purchasing quadcopters and blood transfusion kits. In total, TI Ukraine provided assistance worth UAH 3.1 mln in 2023.

Looking back, we can state that in 2023 there were disappointments, but at the same time, there were significant joint achievements, such as the opening of Ukraine’s negotiations on accession to the EU. To implement them, we made efforts together: civil society, international partners, and all Ukrainians. Of course, all this would have been impossible without our defenders, on whom our entire country relies.

Despite everything, we stand and will continue fighting the enemy with all our might. Let’s make Ukraine stronger in 2024!