Ukrainian Evaluation Association started to implement a social project «Strengthening decentralization in Ukraine»

The Ukrainian Evaluation Association will to improve government transparency and increase citizen participation in the implementation of decentralization reforms. The project is implemented by a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy (USA). Project Manager is Larisa Pylgun, a Board member of Ukrainian evaluation association (e-mail pylgunlv@gmail.com).

The Kyiv-based Association will assess strategic development programs on the central, regional, and community levels, and provide recommendations to ensure adequate public involvement in monitoring the progress of their implementation. It will produce several comprehensive reports and legislative projects and share them with the government.

The Association will conduct similar assessments on the central level, analyzing the national Strategy For Sustainable Development Ukraine 2020 and sectoral development programs, as well as the monitoring and evaluation methodology approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, to determine whether provisions regulating performance monitoring and evaluation include measures to prevent corruption and ensure citizen participation in the processes. The Association will prepare its findings and recommendations, and share them with the appropriate government agencies, including the Ministry of Regional Development.

To improve government transparency and increase citizen participation in a key reform process, the Association and its NGO partners throughout Ukraine will assess the strategic development programs of all regions and Kyiv, as well as analyze the municipal development programs of 24 amalgamated communities throughout Ukraine. To ensure the diversity of the targeted communities, the Association will select them via specific criteria, including geography, type of settlement, and quality of local government. In the analyses, the Association will pay special attention to provisions related to public involvement in monitoring and evaluation. Following the assessment, the Association will summarize the results for each region and community, and publish them on its website.

The Association will conduct a two-day training for state employees, local authorities, and civil society activists from different regions, selected through a call for proposals. The training will cover topics such as monitoring and evaluation, international experiences in monitoring government reform, and interaction between the authorities and civil society, among others.

Following the training, the Association will continue to provide consultations to the participants who, over the following six months, will lead monitoring and evaluation initiatives in at least 12 regions. With the guidance of the Association’s experts, groups made up of activists and local government representatives will prepare reports, and share them with authorities.

The Association also will publish a comprehensive report on the results of all assessment initiatives on the national, regional, and community levels, and publish it on its website. The report will include specific recommendations for improving government monitoring and evaluation techniques at all government levels. Based on the findings, the Association will also draft legislative proposals (e.g., amendments to Law on State Regional Policy, Law on Local Government, and Law on Administrative Services) and submit them to the Parliament.

Finally, the Association will prepare an instructional brochure on teaching monitoring and evaluation techniques for various levels of the Ukrainian government and distribute it among relevant stakeholders. The brochure will also be available on the Association’s website.