The new training course «Public procurement contracts and monitoring» is started in Kiev. The program can be found on the Open Maidan platform. This course will show how to work with the data of the ProZorro, DOZORRO, eData, Youcontrol systems. Students will study online some basic rules and gain some knowledge that will help them to monitor government expenditures. The lectures will be open from the 1 June 2017. Previously, 200 listeners have already applied for the course and you can still register online here.

During the presentation, the executive director of the Transparency International Ukraine Yaroslav Yurchyshyn explained why the transparency in procurement reform is not sufficient. There is a classical formula of efficacy which involves openness and participation. The system ProZorro guarantees the first one, but without public participation transparency will be achieved on the local level only. It is very important to provide the instructions of how to use it all thus the more people control the more efficient will be the system.

Learn how to do it! We want to improve the public monitoring by encouraging people across the country.

The leader of the USAID/UK Aid «Transparency and accountability in public administration and services» Karlos A. Guerro added that public reporting is not that easy. Only with competence,  knowledge, skills and experience, we can manage it. The name of the course speaks for itself. The sphere that was hidden for public now is open for everyone who wants to play a role in the promotion of transparency, openness, reporting and fighting corruption.

The director of the department of public procurement МЕDТ Oleksandr Starodubtsev expects that training will help to strengthen motivation among those who are interested how public money is wasted.  We can control and monitor procurement in order to punish or to help. Those are totally different motives.

People see open data and start yelling at everyone instead of trying to figure out re. The ideological role of this course is to help all the parties to understand the mechanism of procurement better.

We have joined this project after 6-years of experience of monitoring. Now it is difficult for corrupters because of such platforms as ProZorro while community and business are not afraid to talk about corruption issues. The business needs people who understand corruption in details. It would be better if among those who monitor procurements would be some experts who explore the most vivid cases.

One of the coordinators of the Open University of Maidan Ostap Stasiv explained the mission of the online training. Some people still cannot believe they are the owners of this country or that education is the only tool to change the way people think. And now that is the only key instrument to Ukrainians. Hope that online education will inspire people to take responsibility and believe that everything is possible.

At the same time, the main editor of the periodical Nashi Groshi, Oleksii Shalaiskyi hopes that this course will become the first step for future professionals in procurement monitoring.

 

The deputy director of the  EU project «Harmonisation of Public Procurement system in Ukraine with EU standards» Oleksandr Shatkovskyi explained his vision of this course. The one who will pass the course and final test successfully will get the certificate. The significant part of the course is about procurement. But there is also information concerning the access to public information, anti-corruption institutions and organizations, municipal property and the state budget.

So, how the community can ensure that money are spent on children playgrounds but not on the new Minister’s sofa?