UNDP in Ukraine

Democratic Governance is a prerequisite for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Good democratic governance stems from the encounter between a representative, well-run state on one hand and informed, engaged, active citizens on the other. UNDP assists the Governemnt of Ukraine in advancing the democratic policies and practices needed to accelerate progress on human development, by:

• Advancing administrative and territorial reforms;
• Empowering civil society;
• Promoting decentralization and local governance;
• Advocating for human rights and gender equality;
• Ensuring that all Ukrainian citizens can enjoy access to justice; and
• Supporting legal empowerment of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and anti-corruption.

CONTEXT SITUATION IN UKRAINE

Ukraine has recorded significant achievements in its consolidation as an independant and internationally recognized State, committed tot he values of a democratic society and a market economy.

Despite experiencing an initial steep decline in social indicators, the country's economy is displaying clear signs of continuing growth, while civil society is becoming ever more engaged in the decision-making progress. This progress, however, has not reached all levels of Ukrainian society. Ukraine still has a significant path to travel to complete its transformation. On its path towards integration with its European neighbours and the global community at large, democratic governance issues are becoming increasingly more prominent in national and community dialogue. The challenges of transition from highly centralized totalitarian system of governance into democracy were answered with mixed successes until 2004.  The Orange Revolution led Ukraine to a possibility of fundamental reforms across all levels.  Six years after the Orange Revolution, both the great expectations and the great challenges are still a feature of the social and political landscape of the country. The implementation of the Programme for Economic Reforms covering 24 specific areas, an ambitious undertaking of the President and his Government, showed mixed results and led to revision of the functions of several ministries and agencies and establishment of new institutions. While there have been important advances, reforms remain incomplete in many crucial areas, such as decentralization, judicial reform and civil service.  The inability to find workable political compromises, pervasive corruption, and lack of a generally accepted constitutional framework hold back Ukraine's political development. The EU and other international actors expressed concern about the apparent reversal from the pluralistic and fairy democratic path that Ukraine was on since its independence.

UNDP’S RESPONSE IN UKRAINE

Consistently with the priorities of the Government of Ukraine's programme and the EU-Ukraine Action plan, and as articulated by the UNDP Ukraine Country Programme Action Plan (2012-2016), UNDP's Democratic Governance work focuses on (1) administrative and territorial reform and civil society empowerment; (2) decentralization and local governance; (3) judicial reform and human rights with a special focus on promoting the rule of law, access to justice, legal empowerment of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and anti-corruption; (4) gender equality; and (5) regional integration/improvement of border management.

UNDP will work with all levels of government to ensure sustainable results and coherence between local and national legal frameworks, and to engage a wide range of stakeholders in policy dialogue. Through the Civil Society Development Programme , UNDP has been one of the major advocates for making legislative environment conducive for CSOs development through enhancement of the dialogue between UNDP and legislators in 2011. The relationship brokered between UNDP and Parliament’s Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government was instrumental to submission for Parliament’s voting of the new Law on Civic Associations.

In support of anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, UNDP has provided high-level policy advice on the policy framework for combating corruption and since 2006, UNDP has been providing technical and administrative support to the Secretariat of the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. UNDP’s activities in the area of regional integration and border management, through the EUBAM project, contribute to both public service delivery and anti-corruption, by enhancing transparency about import/export flows from the Transnistrian region of Moldova, as well as by building the capacity of Ukraine’s border management authorities.

In the area of gender equality UNDP has focused its capacity-building interventions in three areas selected for their potential to leverage change throughout society: public administration, education and domestic violence prevention and response.

The national gender machinery dismantled in late 2010 was reconstituted in late 2011 thanks to the intensive advocacy campaign orchestrated by UNDP’s Equal Opportunities and Womens’ Rights Programme (EOWRP). As a result, a special Presidential Decree adopted in April 2011 assigned responsibilities related to gender issues and domestic violence prevention and response to the mandate of the Ministry of Social Policy (MSP). EOWRP provided expert support in the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Caucus in the Parliament by identifying areas of joint interests for all the fractions and guiding the development of the new legislative initiatives in the area of domestic violence prevention and response.

UNDP also established and maintained a fruitful partnership with the Ministry of Justice throughout 2011, on access to justice and legal empowerment issues. Through the project Legal Empowerment Project: Fostering Full Enjoyment of Land and Property Rights (implemented in 3 regions of Ukraine (Kiev, Ivano-Frankovsk, and Kherson), UNDP promoted legal aid and raised awareness on land and property rights agenda and facilitated capacity development and closer cooperation between state and non-state legal aid providers.

FUTURE OUTLOOK FOR UKRAINE

In the next few years UNDP Ukraine expects to continue focusing on the promotion of public administration reform, open government practices, citizens' participation, human rights, and public access to information to make Regional (oblast) and local officials directly accountable to their publics. In particular, UNDP plans to work on comprehensive projects to support greater transparency and responsiveness at all levels of government, as well as citizens' engagement in government’s policy-making processes.