Kyiv, 5 February 2019 – Civil society activists have learned how to engage with implementation of the new 4th Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan 2018-2020, and state bodies have been informed about the new priorities contained in the Plan.

“For the first time, the new Open Government Partnership Action Plan 2018-2020 in Ukraine has been aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. To choose new priorities, 60,000 people in 12 oblasts were reached through public consultations, conducted by the CSO Hubs Network with UNDP support,” emphasized Blerta Cela, Deputy Country Director, UNDP Ukraine, at the presentation of the new Action Plan.

UNDP-supported civil society organization hubs organized 20 public events in 12 oblasts, engaging more than 800 participants and reaching out to almost 60,000 people through the media. The purpose of these widescale consultations was to involve citizens in selecting the top priorities for the OGP Action Plan 2018-2020 and to inform civic activists how they could contribute to implementation of the newly adopted commitments.

“The effectiveness of implementation of the fourth Action Plan depends on all the parties involved in the process. Therefore, I encourage the civil society representatives to actively engage in implementation of the Action Plan, share ideas with their state counterparts and challenge them if commitments are not met,” exhorted Serhiy Dekhtyarenko, Deputy State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Since joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative in 2011, Ukraine has made significant progress at making its governance more transparent, efficient and accountable to citizens. Ninety per cent of the first OGP Ukraine Action Plan for 2012-2013 was implemented , as was 83 per cent of the 2014-2015 Plan.

Several innovations have had a transformative impact on the reforms in Ukraine. These include ProZorro, the national e-procurement platform; Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative which verifies information about final beneficiaries; open data legislation to provide access to public information; and the e-asset declarations system.

“The Open Government Partnership allows new innovative ways to be found for cooperation between civil society and state authorities. We need to bear in mind that civil society functions both as a watchdog and as an implementing partner for the Government,” stresses Olesya Arkhypska, project manager of “Together Against Corruption” NGO, and co-chair of the Coordination Council on OGP Initiative Implementation.

How are the top OGP priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Opening the National Repository of Academic Texts is related to SDG 4 (Quality Education), ensuring free access for citizens to environmental information to SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), electronic implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Transparency Construction Initiative to SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and creating an online platform for cooperation between civil society and the state to SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). As a whole, the new Action Plan’s commitments will also reinforce Agenda 2030 by improving the efficiency and transparency of democratic governance in Ukraine.

Photo credit: Andriy Krepkykh / UNDP Ukraine