UKRAINE

Public Ethics Benchmarking and Improvement Programme

In 2006-2008, the Centre managed a pilot programme on strengthening public ethics at local level within the larger programme of fighting corruption in Ukraine which was included in a Council of Europe/European Commission Joint Programme. This programme was based on the Public Ethics Benchmarking and Improvement Tool developed by the Centre and consisted of the following stages:

 preparation of a draft Ukrainian National Handbook of public ethics at local level, based on national practice and the similar European Handbook adopted by a high level conference in 2004. The National Handbook was a thematically structured list of initiatives and achievements of central government, local authorities and local officials (both elected and appointed), but also of suggestions made to these stakeholders;

 preparation of a National Score Card on public ethics at local level on the basis of the European Score Card and the draft National Handbook;

 self-assessment by five pilot municipalities and preparation of the National Benchmark (Score Card plus average scores);

 peer reviews and assessment, followed by recommendations performed by pre-trained reviewers in the five pilot municipalities;

 preparation of Corruption Prevention Plans by the pilot municipalities;

 follow-up visits by peers after one year (subject to available resources).

The first meeting of the Steering Group on the Public Ethics Benchmarking and Improvement Programme was held in March 2007 in Kiev. On this occasion, the Steering Group examined the Ukraine National Handbook on public ethics at local level and adopted the Ukrainian Score Card and Action Plan for the implementation of the programme. Five municipalities - Trostianets, Artemivsk, Vinnytsia, Slavutych and Kamyanets-Podilskiy - decided to implement the full programme.

These municipalities conducted self-assessments, and subsequently prepared a Ukrainian Benchmark (Score Card plus average scores) based on the results.

Three peers from each municipality were trained in the substance of the Score Card and in the techniques of the peer reviews during a two-day seminar.

Peer reviews were conducted in each of the participating municipalities, leading to reports including conclusions and recommendations. On this basis, participating local authorities prepared Action Plans for improvement.

Moreover, taking inspiration from the Ukrainian Handbook and Score Card and from the experience of Vinnytsa (which had already developed a Code of Conduct for elected officials), the other four participating municipalities (Trostianets, Artemivsk, Slavutych and Kamyanets-Podilskiy) also developed and adopted codes of conduct.

A national Conference on the public ethics benchmarking and improvement programme in January in Kyiv discussed the implementation of the project and the results of the benchmarking exercise with particular reference to these five municipalities.