Ukraine has launched the Alliance of Integrity project for local self-government, which currently covers 22 urban communities from 10 regions of the country and aims to further scale up, especially to regions with capable budgets. This was announced by Oleksiy Kuleba, Vice Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine and Minister of Development of Communities and Territories, during the presentation.
‘On behalf of the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, I thank our partners for their support, cooperation and implementation of very important initiatives today. Only together, only with such a broad front, will we be able to resist the enemy. Today, the first communities selected by the project will become pilot communities in the newly launched Alliance of Integrity. This is an important initiative, and it should be scaled up. Especially in those communities where the reconstruction process will take place, as well as in those communities that have capable budgets,’ Kuleba said.
He also stressed that during the war, expenditures should be transparent and understandable, taking into account the needs of wartime and public involvement.
According to the minister, special attention should be paid to supporting the frontline and frontline areas. He called on international partners to increase assistance to these regions.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink stressed that the programme has great potential for transformation and can be brought closer to European and international standards thanks to the support of USAID and the UK. She also added that the decentralisation reform since 2014 has empowered communities to set their own priorities, making Ukraine a radical difference from Putin’s ‘corrupt autocracy’.
The project will focus on five areas: corruption risk assessment, development of integrity improvement plans, revision of regulations to ensure transparency for business, cooperation with international partners, capacity building of anti-corruption commissioners, and IT audit to implement modern digital solutions.
The goal of the initiative is to unite 80 communities over the next five years to improve integrity in local government. The pilot participants are communities from regions including Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Poltava and Cherkasy.
