Transparency International Ukraine has developed a concept for the reconstruction of Ukraine. It embodies the vision of how to solve the greatest risks in the process of restoring the country.
We analyzed the experience of other countries in the matter of post-war reconstruction, the main shortcomings and their causes. And proposed an architecture of the reconstruction process, which should minimize risks during the implementation of restoration projects.
The basis of future trust in Ukraine’s intentions and aspirations will be the first steps towards the preparation of reconstruction. Namely, the formation of a new legislative field and the introduction of reforms and changes, some of which were postponed for many years due to the unpreparedness of the country’s political elites.
In particular, high attention will be paid to the fulfillment of the EU requirements (seven blocks of reforms), the implementation of which the EU has defined as a condition for Ukraine to retain the status of a candidate to join the European Union:
It is also important to develop new legislation in the field of reconstruction. It should provide for the creation of the necessary independent institutions and tools for effective reconstruction.
For effective reconstruction, it is necessary to implement a quality strategy:
The reconstruction of Ukraine can be coordinated by an independent reconstruction institution, which will:
Indonesia’s experience demonstrates how important the role of such an institution is in coordinating thousands of different projects and ensuring the efficient allocation of resources.
The institution should have high trust among government organizations, international society, the population of Ukraine. It should also be granted access to all information about the reconstruction of the country and coordinate the process in cooperation with all parties to the reconstruction. To do this, it is necessary to conduct an independent selection of the operational management of the Institution and define clear objective criteria for evaluating the work, to ensure motivation for the effective implementation of the reconstruction process.
It is important to limit the influence of political authorities on such an Institution and to ensure the instruments of independent international control.
Reconstruction projects should be implemented as openly and transparently as possible, using electronic systems for identifying the project life cycle. Such tools can be:
To control the implementation of projects more effectively and identify systemic problems, it is necessary to introduce unified approaches to reconstruction projects.
Standards and policies for reconstruction projects should provide criteria for the minimum quality of projects and allow tracking critical points of the project, such as:
Uniform standards will ensure the predictable implementation of the project, increase the systematic nature of the process and the partners’ ability to plan their resources for reconstruction.
the state and international partners 
institution 
object manager 
Responsible agencies: the state and international partners
Reconstruction should begin with recording the damages as a result of the military aggression against Ukraine. This information will allow assessing the needs of the country’s reconstruction. Next, it is necessary to identify the objects that should be included in the reconstruction process (that is, reconstruction, modernization, or creation of a new object that will perform the functions of the destroyed one), and objects for which reconstruction is inappropriate.
Based on these data and a long-term vision of the state’s development, it is necessary to form a strategy for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Reconstruction should become a transitional stage from post-Soviet Ukraine to an EU-standard country. It is necessary to focus not so much on the reconstruction of the destroyed objects as on the modernization of infrastructure and the completion of reforms. This requires:
To implement the reconstruction strategy, it is necessary to ensure a fair distribution of funding for national, sectoral, and regional projects. At each of these levels, there should be target baskets: specific cities, regions, infrastructure areas. The allocation of reconstruction resources between these baskets of needs should be based on an objective assessment of urgency and importance.
Reconstruction projects should be initiated by communities or property owners, or relevant bodies in a particular sphere, within the framework of national, sectoral, and regional plans.
All applications must undergo a public assessment, which demonstrates to the reconstruction partners how the project concept is perceived by end users — communities.
The reconstruction coordination institution will verify applications for compliance with the reconstruction goals, analyze risks and possible duplication of projects. It will also assess the approaches to solving the tasks — whether the project meets its objectives, what advantages it has over alternative ways to close the need.
Responsible agencies: object manager and the Institution
Responsible agency: Institution
The Institution evaluates the finalized application in accordance with the approved project prioritization methodology. The assessment should take place according to objective indicators: the level of needs that the project solves, coverage, impact, consideration of public opinion.
Projects are then ranked based on their scores in the overall project base in each of the target baskets. The influence of the human factor or subjective choice on this process should be minimal. The higher the project is in the ranking, the more priority it has for financing.
Projects from the general basket of reconstruction resources will be financed according to the ranking. This minimizes the risks of financing secondary projects from the budget.
For international donors, the assessment of the Institution is an auxiliary tool for analyzing the quality and importance of the project. They will be able to independently choose which project to finance, regardless of its evaluation.
Ranking also creates prerequisites for competition between projects. Their authors will have more incentives to think through ideas and formulate applications in order to have a better chance of obtaining funding.
Responsible agencies: object manager and the Institution
The project selected and agreed for funding passes to the implementation stage.
The initiator (responsible agency) conducts and procures the necessary goods, works, or services. To ensure uniform approaches and aggregate information on all procurement transactions related to rebuilding, such procedures should be published in a single electronic system — Prozorro.
The use of Prozorro — a system in which “everyone sees everything” — will allow achieving transparency, competition, and equal access of business to procurement. This will facilitate active public control over the use of funds and public participation in the reconstruction.
If necessary, Prozorro should provide for separate electronic bidding procedures that combine the best practices of international experience in the field of procurement and simplify the participation of global companies.
The Institution verifies the integrity of procurement.
Subsequently, the initiator of the project signs an agreement with the contractor, and the contractor carries out works or supplies goods. Initiators should constantly record the progress of the project implementation in the Electronic Reconstruction Management System. This way, anyone can track the state of readiness of projects.
Responsible agency: Institution
The Institution will analyze the implementation of projects separately, and prepare systematic reports on the overall progress of reconstruction based on these data, resource allocation, problems and violations, measures taken and improvements to the reconstruction.
In addition, the public will assess the implementation of projects.
