Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine (Ministry for Restoration), together with the RISE Ukraine Coalition, presented the communication platform of the unified electronic restoration management ecosystem DREAM (Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management).

The communication platform is available via the link https://dream.gov.ua/ and contains information about the tasks, structure, and principles of the DREAM ecosystem, as well as a step-by-step plan for its implementation in 2023.

DREAM is a state digital ecosystem that will provide a single digital route for all reconstruction projects. It will collect all project data online, display it in the form of convenient tables, graphs, and charts, and ensure open data publication by the global Open Contracting Data Standard.

The ecosystem, the development of which began in the summer of 2022 by the RISE Coalition and the Ministry for Restoration, will allow monitoring of every stage of the project’s life cycle — from the registration of damage and destruction to financing, conducting procurement, and construction work, and putting the facilities into operation. Full transparency and access to data allow you to assess the progress of projects and make effective decisions regarding the attraction of investments and the development of specific industries, communities, and territories.

The DREAM ecosystem has two levels. The first is the already existing state registers, systems, and services that create a single route for the development of the project: Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property, Geoinformation System (GIS), Sectoral Infrastructure Reconstruction Management System, Diia, United State Register, Unified State Electronic System in the field of construction, Prozorro, Spending.gov.ua. The second level is the “umbrella” system, as it collects data from all first-level systems at each stage of the project and provides open access to them and management and control tools.

“The post-war reconstruction of Ukraine is tens of thousands of projects that will take place simultaneously, at different stages, throughout the country. Such a large-scale recovery plan involves attracting large amounts of foreign funding. A condition for attracting finance in full is transparency and accountability of all reconstruction procedures. Investors’ confidence is based on the “everyone sees everything” principle” principle, investors’ confidence is based. A transparent digital ecosystem allows this trust to be ensured“, emphasized the Vice-Prime Minister for Restoration – the Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov.

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‍He added that DREAM is a powerful tool for international financial organizations, governments, and private investors. Thanks to DREAM, international organizations will be able to choose projects for financing through the general “showcase of projects”. They can also monitor how every penny of their money is used. Having access to all information on purchases, regular reports on the performance of works, audits, etc., investors can track the progress of each financed project.

‍Because all project ideas in DREAM fall on a single «bank of projects», each community can present its project to potential investors directly. At the same time, the sources of financing can be diverse: the state or regional budget, funds from foreign governments and organizations, private investors, or combined, within the framework of a public-private partnership.

‍“DREAM will become a real assistant for local self-government bodies. With the help of digital tools, instructions, tips, and templates, communities can create projects as easily and quickly as possible. And direct contact with potential donors will help attract funding. In this way, we strengthen the capacity of regions and stimulate their development“, said the Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Oleksandra Azarkhina.

‍The task of the communication platform is to provide basic information about the DREAM ecosystem and explain its work’s main principles, in particular, to its key users. The platform also offers detailed clarifications on regulatory support for recovery processes, key tools, and procedures. In addition, the platform https://dream.gov.ua/ will become the primary source of information about the development of the system, tracking of key stages of its implementation according to the timeline, etc.

‍From November 2022, the Agency for Restoration is testing one of the key modules of the DREAM ecosystem – the Sectoral Infrastructure Reconstruction Management System. During this time, representatives of enterprises, institutions, and organizations belonging to the sphere of management of the Ministry of Reconstruction, as well as local governments, who joined the testing voluntarily, contributed about 5 thousand project ideas.

‍The first stage of the pilot project made it possible to test the Sectoral System and collect and consider user feedback. This week, the Government scaled up «the pilot» to central and local authorities throughout Ukraine (amendments to Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1286). In addition, the project now extends not only to transport infrastructure but also to construction and real estate.

‍The first pilot projects of the system will become the basis of the portfolio of projects of the State Agency for Restoration.

“The DREAM electronic ecosystem will provide full access to information about each stage of reconstruction projects to all process participants and citizens. All stakeholders, including international partners, will have the opportunity to monitor every step of the implementation of restoration projects. There has never been such an array of open data on construction in Ukraine. I hope this system will become an example of publicity, transparency and openness”, noted the Head of the Agency for Restoration, Mustafa Nayyem.

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‍The development of the system was initiated by the Coalition of NGOs RISE Ukraine in the summer of 2022 and is carried out with the support of member organizations of the Coalition, particularly the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) and Transparency International Ukraine. Development financing is provided within the framework of Open Contracting Partnership projects with the support of the British Government. As in the case of the launch of such well-known state systems as Prozorro and Prozorro.Sale, upon completion of development, the system will be transferred to the state balance sheet represented by the Ministry for Restoration.

‍«Ukraine already has successful examples of cooperation between the public and the state, which resulted in modern digital systems and services that profess open data, full transparency, and accountability. The DREAM ecosystem continues this collaboration. Together with the Ministry of Reconstruction, we are creating a digital basis, a backbone for the effective, fast, and sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine, based on the principle«everyone sees everything», said the Head of Ukraine Support at Open Contracting, chairman of the board of the RISE Ukraine Coalition Viktor Nestulia.

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‍On August 26, 2022, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and the Coalition of NGOs RISE Ukraine, in particular, regarding the introduction of an electronic reconstruction management ecosystem. The vision of the future system was presented during the expert discussion, you can watch the recording of the video stream from the conference here.

‍In November 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers passed Resolution No. 1286, which launched an experimental project on implementing a Digital Management System for the reconstruction of transport infrastructure.

 

The communication platform of the DREAM reconstruction management ecosystem was developed with the financial support of the BHP Foundation.

Journalists of the Schemes project together with Ukrainska Pravda published an investigation on the use of funds for road maintenance in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

According to the journalists, the co-owner of the private company, which received UAH 1.5 billion for road maintenance in March, is associated with the head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration Valentyn Reznichenko.

Referring to the financial documentation of the company, the Schemes reported suspicious transactions amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnias.
The RISE Ukraine Coalition calls on the authorities and law enforcement agencies to verify the facts of the investigation as soon as possible.

The investigation once again proves how important transparency and accountability are in public procurement, including in the framework of future reconstruction.

Maximum transparency should be ensured at all stages of reconstruction, starting from the recording of losses, identification, development, and prioritization of projects, allocation of funding, procurement, and implementation. This will make it possible to identify suspicious and potentially risky projects at the stage of their planning and to destroy monopolies through open and fair competition.

Today, international partners’ trust in Ukraine is important more than ever. Therefore, each confirmation of corruption violations should result in a strong reaction by the authorities, demonstrating the inevitability of punishment.

Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director of TI Ukraine, told how the public, together with the government, implements reforms and plans the rebuilding at the Open Government Partnership Europe Regional Meeting. 

Civil society in Ukraine has always been active. This became especially noticeable after the Revolution of Dignity.

However, our role has changed in recent years. Over the past 8 years, we have become partners of the government during the implementation of many reforms. Moreover, the majority of Ukrainian reforms that were successful did succeed because the government and civil society were partners:

• decentralization;
• public procurement;
• beginning of privatization.

Not enemies, but partners.

War

Many civil society organizations have become key partners of the state almost from the beginning:

• are engaged in international advocacy;
• help the government communicate with the governments of other countries;
• communicate with CSOs from other countries so that their governments help Ukraine;
• disseminate information about what is happening in Ukraine.

The army is fighting on the front. The government should solve numerous problems that Russian missiles are now causing, such as in the energy sector. And civil society not only advocates the need for reconstruction, but also takes an active part in its planning.

Reconstruction

In Lugano, we announced the launch of the Rise Ukraine coalition, which promotes the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability, open data, digitalization, and engagement of citizens and business in planning Ukraine’s reconstruction after the war.

More than 35 organizations from all over the world have already joined it. At the same time, government bodies and international partners support the principles of the coalition by signing the relevant memoranda.

Our goal is to rebuild Ukraine better and more convenient for life. To achieve this, we need to attract enough resources and make sure that they will be spent transparently and efficiently.

We are exploring the experiences of restoring other countries after the war, so as not to make the same mistakes. And now, we see digitalization of the reconstruction process and the establishment of control and punishment for corruption in the process as our key areas.

The electronic management system and monitoring of reconstruction will ensure the transparency of all processes — everyone see everything. In particular, this will allow the supervisory and law enforcement agencies to detect the violations faster. For its part, anti-corruption infrastructure reform should ensure punishment for such violations. 

Engagement

Unfortunately, the state does not engage the civil society in all the processes taking place. For example, I do not know any organization that would be invited to the Conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Berlin, where international partners will plan assistance to Ukraine with reconstruction.

However, it is civil society that has always been a secret weapon of Ukraine. It has repeatedly proved so before, and it also proves it now during the war.

It is important to engage CSOs at the planning stage. Thus, we will be able to share responsibility.

Common goal

It is crucial to do everything to make us united. Now that russia is destroying energy infrastructure, Ukraine cannot export electricity to Europe. This war affects not only Ukrainians, but also all Europeans.

To deal with reconstruction, we need to win the war. Your support is needed to win the war. If you are from a civil society organization, ask your government how it has helped Ukraine this week. If you represent the government, ask your colleagues about the number of weapons you have sent to Ukraine this week.

Estonia sent 1% of its GDP to support Ukraine. If all European countries were doing the same, the war would have been over long time ago.

The OGP Europe Regional Meeting is a conference that was jointly organized by the governments of Italy and Estonia. On October 11-12, it gathered organizations supporting the initiative, government representatives, and stakeholders. The main topics of the discussion were anti-corruption, digitalization, and engagement of the public.

The Open Government Partnership is a global initiative, within which the governments of the participating countries are developing two-year action plans for the implementation of the Initiative together with civil society institutions; ensure the openness of the process of implementation of the Initiative and public consultation; independently evaluate the results of the activity.

Transparency International Ukraine is actively engaged in the initiative since its inception in Ukraine.