International Centre for Policy Studies

[en/] Advanced Search Укр Eng About the Centre ICPS team The Centre's partners Information for Media Career and Internship ICPS Annual Report for 2014 Supervisory Board ICPS Studies Foreign Policy Reforms implementation Energy Policy Economic Analysis Government Policy Political Competition Our projects Current projects ICPS Visegrad Academy for Political Leadership Coalition of Regional CSOs for Public Finance Control Implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU National dialogue for constitutional reform Hidden triggers of economic growth in V4 plus Ukraine Completed projects Projects Archive > Periodicals All editions Weekly collection of Inside Ukraine Weekly digest Foreign Policy Insight Economic forecasts: the bigger picture from ICPS Archive of editions > Regular Events Diplomatic Club Events and News Contacts In the latest issue > Yesterday, on February 27, Transparency International Ukraine informed that in 2015 Ukraine has been ranked 130 out of the 168 positions based on the results of the world Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). We are only one point higher than it was last year as in 2014 Ukraine held 142 out of 175 positions. In this regard a public discussion immediately appeared discussing how badly authorities fight against the corrupt officials among whom almost no one received the strictest punishment imposed nowadays – dismissal, not to mention guilty verdicts. Yes, this all is true. But there is always a ‘but’. For the last few weeks, within the framework of ICPS anticorruption project "Coalition of Regional Public Organizations for Ensuring Control over Use of Public Finances" I communicated with activists from different regions to know about their success in conducting anticorruption investigations. In summer and autumn of 2015, ICPS experts and invited specialists conducted a series of trainings in various regions of Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Lutsk and Rivne, Kherson, Kyiv regions), where they taught on how to plan and conduct own anticorruption investigation. The most active and motivated public activists and journalists from every region were invited to attend these trainings. Trainings went well inspiring everyone with the new possibilities provided by new open data registers, new laws. Majority of them was to apply new knowledge in practice. The time has passed and ICPS opened new Anticorruption Portal for Public Investigations. But when we contacted activists, it became clear that about half of them did not make any attempts to conduct at least one investigation and do not plan to do it. About one-third of them would like to conduct an investigation but are not able to start it independently, do not know how to do it in practice, need mentoring. The remaining part conduct investigations at various stages, but they did it before. This case seems very vivid to me as it shows current state of the Ukrainian civil society and fight against corruption. I shall repeat that we invited to the training the most active and motivated public activists and journalists with "burning eyes" inspired by the idea of fighting corruption. In fact, anticorruption investigations in regions continue to be held by the people who have already chosen this kind of public activity for themselves. Thus, the anticorruption investigations - is not an easy genre requiring both time and patience. As a rule an investigation may not be completed within a few weeks. It often requires multiple requests for information, waiting for replies, redoing the said work if the necessary information has not been provided and so forth. But one may start with simple cases inspecting the nearest school or a polyclinic and thereby change lives of the community for better. However almost half of activists trained did not even try to conduct any investigation - it makes us think about it, as well as the fact that a lot of people wish to expose corruption, but do not know how to choose a topic, how to start, how to collect data. If there is such a high level of paternalism and infantilism among the public activists, than what may be said about the rest of the Ukrainian society? Ukrainians passionately and patiently used to get outraged by the high level of corruption in the social networks or in conversations in the kitchen. We have achieved such a high skill level at this that it almost became an art. We write ironic posts and comments, make demotivators, ‘like’ and ‘share’ thousands of records. But when it comes from making another contribution to the "charitable" fund of a kindergarten or a school to inspecting its procurements procedures or compliance of workers’ lifestyle with their wages, the usual warning appears: “Why me?”, “Why would we check an institution I’m related to?”, “What if it harms me or my child, for example?” and so on. Ukrainians are very eager to live well. We like examples of the developed western countries where all laws are implemented, bureaucracy effectively serves for meeting the citizens’ needs, but we all forget about the processes these countries had to go through for gaining their level of welfare and comfort. For how many centuries citizens of these countries had not only to initiate bourgeois revolutions, but to fight for their rights experiencing many personal difficulties... All this comfort has been paid for by someone. And now, we Ukrainians have to realize that we must pay for the good future. We paid dearly for the independence of our country, but now we have to pay for the future welfare. Through everyone’s daily efforts for exposing local corruption. No one else will do it for us. Yes, there are new anticorruption law enforcement bodies, but the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has very limited jurisdiction characteristics - offenses committed by senior officials if the damage to the state is more than UAH 500 thousand. Prosecutor’s Office has to be reformed, and under the new law on the State Bureau of Investigation, the functions of investigations will be transferred from the Prosecutor’s Office to the newly created body that will fully work no one knows when. The National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) which is to check the officials’ lifestyles has not been able to get five members for the last six months and it is unknown when it will start working. As for judicial reform, no one knows when it will begin as well. Therefore Ukrainians should not rely on the fact that someone will come and solve our problems with total corruption. Neither the President, nor the Verkhovna Rada (this one or any other one) or the Cabinet of Ministers or specialized force bodies may change the situation with corruption in the country for Ukrainians. Actually, the situation is very similar to that period in spring of 2014, when Ukrainians suddenly realized that there was aggression going on around them while the situation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine was worse than one might imagine. And if we ourselves would not do something right away – there would be no country by the next day, as it would be captured. Back then, only extensive volunteer movement, distribution of functions of equipping the army between many people, until the country would come to better state - helped to save the country. Now the situation is no less significant and dangerous, and it may not be solved by new Maidan or new elections of everyone and all - it will not be effective or solve all the basic issues. There is a need in the same extensive volunteer movement, which would work for exposing corruption in all its forms in each locality of Ukraine. We should distribute responsibilities, define what each person would do. Take the initiative and inspire everyone around. Unite, develop horizontal networks, gather insides and give insides, consult those who are investigating on issues one is a professional in. Do something every day and constantly. ... Reforms implementation Fight against corruption – how may Ukrainians overcome their own shadow? International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) was ranked among the top 50 think tanks of Eastern and Central Europe based on the results of 2015. ... Media about ICPS ICPS ranked among TOP 50 think tanks in Eastern Europe Olena Zakharova, Analytics and External Relations Officer ICPS, and Tamara Martsenyuk, Associate Expert ICPS, according to the project " Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in Legislative and Executive Authorities in Ukraine" held "Ranking of the Institutions on Gender Equality Factor". ... Political Competition Representation of women and men in the management government is significant inequality This was the conclusion of the experts of the International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) who made ranking of state authorities on gender equality factor. The research was done within the project “Equal Opportunities for Woman and Men in Politics, Business and Public Life” in cooperation with the Equality and Mutual Respect Foundation. “First of all, we wanted to see, how the gender quota, introduced at the local election this year, has been implemented”, – Olena Zakharova, ICPS Analytics and External Relations Officer, said during the public presentation, – whether it gave an opportunity to women to get into the politics at the regional level”. However, according to her, the project goal was to analyze to what extent the opportunities of women and men are equal in the Ukrainian politics. The experts researched the representativeness of women in the Ukrainian Parliament, Regional Local Councils, Ministries and Regional State Administrations. The research resulted in a conferment of Equality and Inequality Honors. The honoring criteria were as transparent as possible. The Ministries received only one Honor: either Equality Honor or Inequality Honor: Equality Honor: if at least one woman holds a top management position at a Ministry: position of a Minister, First Deputy Minister or Deputy Minister; Inequality Honor: if no woman holds a top management position at a Ministry: position of a Minister, First Deputy Minister or Deputy Minister. The Regional State Administrations received only one honor as well: either Equality Honor or Inequality Honor: Equality Honor: if at least one woman holds a top-management position at an Administration: position of a Head, First Deputy Head or Deputy Head; Inequality Honor: if no woman holds a top-management position at an Administration: position of a Head, First Deputy Head or Deputy Head. The Local Regional Councils received several Honors summed up on the basis of the following criteria: 1. The Number of female-deputies in a Regional Council Equality Honor: number of female-deputies increased in comparison with the previous composition of a Regional Council; Inequality Honor: number of female-deputies did not change or decreased in comparison with the previous composition of a Regional Council. 2. Percentage of female-deputies in a Regional Council Equality Honor: percentage of female-deputies increased in comparison with the previous composition of a Regional Council; Inequality Honor: percentage of female-deputies did not change or decreased in comparison with the previous composition of a Regional Council. 3. Fulfillment of 30% gender quota by the parties represented at a Regional Council Equality Honor: for each party that brought 30+ % of female-deputies at a Regional Council; Inequality Honor: if no party brought at least 30% of female-deputies at a Regional Council. 4. High authority body of a Regional Council Equality Honor: if at least one woman is presented at the high authority body of a Regional Council holding a position of a Head, First Deputy Head or Deputy Head; Inequality Honor: if no woman works at the high authority body of a Regional Council at a position of a Head, First Deputy Head or Deputy Head. The ranking results were disappointing and showed the inequality in representativeness of women and men in high authorities of Ukraine. If women are represented more or less at the central authorities, the situation in the regions is almost critical. For example, only in two Ministries (Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and Ministry of Economic Development and Trade) there are 50% of women at the institution’s top management, while in six of them (Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Defense, Ministry for Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Ministry of Social Policy) they are absent at all. The situation analysis of local executive authorities revealed that no Regional State Administration (out of 24 and 1 City State Administration) is headed by a woman, while only two of them have female First Deputy Heads and eleven - female Deputy Heads. Currently, only 16% of women and 84 % of men hold the top management positions at Regional State Administrations. 14 Regional State Administrations received Inequality Honor (Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Rivne, Poltava, Odesa, Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhya, Zakarpattia, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsya) as well as 11 Regional State Administrations received Equality Honor (Kherson, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolayiv, Lviv, Luhansk, Kirovohrad, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Volyn and Kyiv City Administrations). As for the Regional Local Councils, women head three of them (Mykolayiv, Kyiv and Zhytomyr), two of them have female First Deputy Heads (Lviv and Vinnytsya), four of them have female Deputy Heads (Kherson, Sumy, Zhytomyr and Dnipropetrovsk). At the same time, the high authorities’ election process is still not completed in 7 Regional Local Councils. Ranking of the Regional Local Councils based on the percentage of female-deputies demonstrated a leading position of Khmelnytskyi Regional Local Council with 21% and the bottom position of Odesa Regional Local Council with 10%. Ranking of the Regional Local Councils based on the number of female-deputies demonstrated the leading position of Kharkiv Regional Council with 23 women and the bottom position of Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia and Kherson Regional Councils with 7 women. Change dynamics in the percentage of female-deputies in Regional Local Councils in most of the cases is positive and their percentage increased. In Lviv Regional Local Council, the percentage of women increased by 13, in Khmelnytskyi by 11, in Kharkiv and Sumy by 10, in Chernihiv by 9, in Kyiv by 7, in Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr by 6, in Chernivtsi by 5, in Rivne and Volyn by 4, in Zaporizhya and Zakarpattia by 3, in Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk by 1. Unfortunately, the percentage of female-deputies did not change in Kherson Regional Local Council. In Ternopil and Odesa Regional Local Councils, the percentage of female-deputies decreased by 1, in Vinnytsya by 3, in Mykolayiv by 4 and in Cherkasy by 6. The same tendency is demonstrated by the change dynamics in the percentage of female-deputies at the Regional Local Councils – in the majority of the regions, it is positive and the number of women increased. In Kharkiv Regional Local Council, the number of female-deputies increased by 11, in Lviv by 9, in Khmelnytskyi by 8, in Ivano-Frankivsk and Sumy by 3, in Chernihiv, Kherson, and Poltava by 2, in Rivne, Kyiv, Zaporizhya, Zhytomyr and Volyn by 1. Unfortunately, the number of female-deputies did not change in Chernivtsi Regional Local Council. The number of women decreased in Ternopil by 4, Mykolayiv by 6, Odesa by 7, Cherkasy by 9 and Vinnytsya by 10 female-deputies. Document: Ranking of the Institutions on Gender “Equality Factor Equal Opportunities for Women and Men in Legislative and Executive Authorities in Ukraine” ... Political Competition If there are Women in Central Authorities, it is Difficult to Find them in Regional Ones The West continues to push Kyiv toward the asymmetric fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, now in terms of the local elections in Donbas. The so-called Morel’s plan, which appeared after the Minsk meeting held on September 12, 2015, is a major subject of discussion by the “Normandy Four” on October 2, 2015. ... Government Policy I.Kovalchuk: Morel’s plan may lead to further destabilization in Kyiv The current election campaign is characterized by rather dirty methods of political competition. Parties do not compete in ideas or programs aimed at improving life in their own communities, but rather they compete in political technologies, administrative resources, finances, and media. The election rhetoric is aimed at national themes and does not allow for the resolution of local problems. ... Political Competition Dirty methods of local election campaign Within the project on "Local Watchdogs in Ensuring Control over Public Finances", on 10 September 2015 the International Centre for Policy Studies conducted training for regional civic activists. ... Reforms implementation ICPS held training on "Local Watchdogs in Ensuring Control over Public Finances" On 4 September 2015, the International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) resumed diplomatic briefings after a short summer break. ICPS diplomatic briefings bring together representatives of foreign embassies and international organizations, who come to the ICPS for a deep and balanced analysis of the current political and economic situation in Ukraine. ... Government Policy ICPS resumed diplomatic briefings in new political season A 20% write-off of Ukrainian public debt is a small win, ICPS economic expert Oleksandr Zholud says. Ukrainian government expected that Ukraine's creditors would write off as much as 40% of its pending debt. However, foreign creditors decided differently. ... Media about ICPS O.Zholud "To write off 20% of Ukrainian debt instead of expected 40% is a small win" "To say that the negotiations process in Minsk can be a possible way of resolving the conflict is an overstatement, to put it mildly. Let us hope that at least it will help secure a ceasefire. Only after ensuring a ceasefire can we talk about a settlement of the conflict in Donbas", Vasyl Filipchuk, ICPS Chairman of the Board, told "5 Channel" (you can find the video below). ... Foreign Policy V. Filipchuk "To say that the negotiations process in Minsk can be a possible way of resolving the conflict is an overstatement" According to Ukrainian government's official reports, the economic situation in the country will improve by the end of 2015. However, various economic experts say that such forecasts are too optimistic, thus doubting the possibility of economic growth by the end of this year. ... Economic Analysis V. Povoroznyk: Government's economic forecasts look slightly optimistic The Kremlin strategists have come up with a new plan for Donbas, which would allow the Russian president Vladimir Putin to use Ukraine's fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych for achieving his own political goals by sending him back to Ukraine. ... Foreign Policy The Kremlin may send Yanukovych back to Donbas All events and news> Announcements > News > Fight against corruption – how may Ukrainians overcome their own shadow? Yesterday, on February 27, Transparency International Ukraine informed that in 2015 Ukraine has been ranked 130 out of the 168 positions based on the results of the world Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). We are only one point higher than it was last year as in 2014 Ukraine held 142 out of 175 positions. In this regard a public discussion immediately appeared discussing how badly authorities fight against the corrupt officials among whom almost no one received the strictest punishment imposed nowadays – dismissal, not to mention guilty verdicts. Yes, this all is true. But there is always a ‘but’. For the last few weeks, within the framework of ICPS anticorruption project "Coalition of Regional Public Organizations for Ensuring Control over Use of Public Finances" I communicated with activists from different regions to know about their success in conducting anticorruption investigations. In summer and autumn of 2015, ICPS experts and invited specialists conducted a series of trainings in various regions of Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Lviv, Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Lutsk and Rivne, Kherson, Kyiv regions), where they taught on how to plan and conduct own anticorruption investigation. The most active and motivated public activists and journalists from every region were invited to attend these trainings. Trainings went well inspiring everyone with the new possibilities provided by new open data registers, new laws. Majority of them was to apply new knowledge in practice. The time has passed and ICPS opened new Anticorruption Portal for Public Investigations. But when we contacted activists, it became clear that about half of them did not make any attempts to conduct at least one investigation and do not plan to do it. About one-third of them would like to conduct an investigation but are not able to start it independently, do not know how to do it in practice, need mentoring. The remaining part conduct investigations at various stages, but they did it before. This case seems very vivid to me as it shows current state of the Ukrainian civil society and fight against corruption. I shall repeat that we invited to the training the most active and motivated public activists and journalists with "burning eyes" inspired by the idea of fighting corruption. In fact, anticorruption investigations in regions continue to be held by the people who have already chosen this kind of public activity for themselves. Thus, the anticorruption investigations - is not an easy genre requiring both time and patience. As a rule an investigation may not be completed within a few weeks. It often requires multiple requests for information, waiting for replies, redoing the said work if the necessary information has not been provided and so forth. But one may start with simple cases inspecting the nearest school or a polyclinic and thereby change lives of the community for better. However almost half of activists trained did not even try to conduct any investigation - it makes us think about it, as well as the fact that a lot of people wish to expose corruption, but do not know how to choose a topic, how to start, how to collect data. If there is such a high level of paternalism and infantilism among the public activists, than what may be said about the rest of the Ukrainian society? Ukrainians passionately and patiently used to get outraged by the high level of corruption in the social networks or in conversations in the kitchen. We have achieved such a high skill level at this that it almost became an art. We write ironic posts and comments, make demotivators, ‘like’ and ‘share’ thousands of records. But when it comes from making another contribution to the "charitable" fund of a kindergarten or a school to inspecting its procurements procedures or compliance of workers’ lifestyle with their wages, the usual warning appears: “Why me?”, “Why would we check an institution I’m related to?”, “What if it harms me or my child, for example?” and so on. Ukrainians are very eager to live well. We like examples of the developed western countries where all laws are implemented, bureaucracy effectively serves for meeting the citizens’ needs, but we all forget about the processes these countries had to go through for gaining their level of welfare and comfort. For how many centuries citizens of these countries had not only to initiate bourgeois revolutions, but to fight for their rights experiencing many personal difficulties... All this comfort has been paid for by someone. And now, we Ukrainians have to realize that we must pay for the good future. We paid dearly for the independence of our country, but now we have to pay for the future welfare. Through everyone’s daily efforts for exposing local corruption. No one else will do it for us. Yes, there are new anticorruption law enforcement bodies, but the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has very limited jurisdiction characteristics - offenses committed by senior officials if the damage to the state is more than UAH 500 thousand. Prosecutor’s Office has to be reformed, and under the new law on the State Bureau of Investigation, the functions of investigations will be transferred from the Prosecutor’s Office to the newly created body that will fully work no one knows when. The National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) which is to check the officials’ lifestyles has not been able to get five members for the last six months and it is unknown when it will start working. As for judicial reform, no one knows when it will begin as well. Therefore Ukrainians should not rely on the fact that someone will come and solve our problems with total corruption. Neither the President, nor the Verkhovna Rada (this one or any other one) or the Cabinet of Ministers or specialized force bodies may change the situation with corruption in the country for Ukrainians. Actually, the situation is very similar to that period in spring of 2014, when Ukrainians suddenly realized that there was aggression going on around them while the situation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine was worse than one might imagine. And if we ourselves would not do something right away – there would be no country by the next day, as it would be captured. Back then, only extensive volunteer movement, distribution of functions of equipping the army between many people, until the country would come to better state - helped to save the country. Now the situation is no less significant and dangerous, and it may not be solved by new Maidan or new elections of everyone and all - it will not be effective or solve all the basic issues. There is a need in the same extensive volunteer movement, which would work for exposing corruption in all its forms in each locality of Ukraine. We should distribute responsibilities, define what each person would do. Take the initiative and inspire everyone around. Unite, develop horizontal networks, gather insides and give insides, consult those who are investigating on issues one is a professional in. Do something every day and constantly. 28.01.2016 in «Reforms implementation» ICPS ranked among TOP 50 think tanks in Eastern Europe International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) was ranked among the top 50 think tanks of Eastern and Central Europe based on the results of 2015. 27.01.2016 in «Media about ICPS» I.Kovalchuk: Morel’s plan may lead to further destabilization in Kyiv The West continues to push Kyiv toward the asymmetric fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, now in terms of the local elections in Donbas. The so-called Morel’s plan, which appeared after the Minsk meeting held on September 12, 2015, is a major subject of discussion by the “Normandy Four” on October 2, 2015. 08.10.2015 in «Government Policy» Dirty methods of local election campaign The current election campaign is characterized by rather dirty methods of political competition. Parties do not compete in ideas or programs aimed at improving life in their own communities, but rather they compete in political technologies, administrative resources, finances, and media. The election rhetoric is aimed at national themes and does not allow for the resolution of local problems. 04.10.2015 in «Political Competition» ICPS held training on "Local Watchdogs in Ensuring Control over Public Finances" Within the project on "Local Watchdogs in Ensuring Control over Public Finances", on 10 September 2015 the International Centre for Policy Studies conducted training for regional civic activists. 10.09.2015 in «Reforms implementation» ICPS resumed diplomatic briefings in new political season On 4 September 2015, the International Centre for Policy Studies (ICPS) resumed diplomatic briefings after a short summer break. ICPS diplomatic briefings bring together representatives of foreign embassies and international organizations, who come to the ICPS for a deep and balanced analysis of the current political and economic situation in Ukraine. 04.09.2015 in «Government Policy» All news > Periodicals > Weekly collection of Inside Ukraine Weekly digest Foreign Policy Insight Economic forecasts: the bigger picture from ICPS All editions > Social Networks Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Watch us on YouTube Information Attribution policy Information for Media Contacts Career and Internship Contacts Address: Office 10, 14 Instytutska St. Kyiv, Ukraine, 01021 E-mail: office@icps.kiev.ua Tel.: +38 (044) 253-44-82 Fax: +38 (044) 253-44-82 Copyright © 1997 - 2016 ICPS International Centre for Policy Studies. All rights reserved Use of site materials is allowed provided the link to icps.com.ua Up