Digital Agenda 2015 for Effective E-Governance in Ukraine

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08.10.2014

Kyiv, 8 October, 2014 – The digital agenda 2015 was presented by the State Agency for E-Governance in Ukraine at the Ukraine crisis media center. It was developed according to the Reform Strategy-2020 and in the framework of the EU socio-economic development strategy until 2020. UNDP provided support to the capacity development of the newly established lead agency in the area of e-governance.

“A quarter of Ukrainian citizens want to be able to influence online the government’s decision-making process. The introduction of e-government will increase the efficiency of the government’s activity and will make the provision of public services more accessible and transparent for citizens”, – noted Oleksandr Ryzhenko, the Chairman of the newly established State Agency for e-Government of Ukraine – the central executive body responsible for implementing the state policy in the field of information, e-governance, development and use of national electronic information resources, and the development of the information society. He also presented the Agency’s priorities: introduction of e-services; development of the standards on electronic interaction; openness of the government data; and Electronic Ukraine 2020.

According to UN E-Government Survey 2014 Ukraine took 87th place in the rating next to Albania, Fiji and El Salvador. In order to prevent delays in the country's e-government development, the State Agency will provide primarily operational feedback and continual dialogue between citizens and authorities. With the introduction of online mechanisms, the provision of service will be transparent and open, and citizens will have the opportunity to apply for services online without having to visit to the administrative premises, which will eventually reduce the level of corruption in the country.

“It is very important, as part of the Association Agreement with the European Union, to take steps towards overcoming corruption and maintaining a dialogue with citizens. E-governance will allow us to rebuild the relationship between the state and citizens, offset the negative impact of bureaucracy, and, most importantly – to improve the quality of the government’s decision-making process,"- the official said.

Roman Kobets, an expert from the working group on government policy in the field of e-government, under the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, presented the data from the survey conducted from 12 to 18 September 2014 by the Razumkov Centre of Sociological Service. “Over 12% of Ukrainians visit government sites; half of them are interested in working process and the documents required for administrative services, the other half are interested in consultations” - emphasized Roman Kobets.

The study also showed that 24% of Ukrainians would like to be able to influence the authorities through Internet petitions and to have the opportunity to provide feedback on draft decisions; 19% expressed their willingness to participate in consultations on regional and local public policy, organized by authorities on web pages.

UNDP has proactively engaged with the expert working group on e-governance under the Vice-Prime-Minister Volodymyr Groysman, linking the Ukrainian experts to our colleagues from Moldova, translating e-governance policy documents from other European countries, supporting the Reanimation Reform Package working group (specifically on the issue of open data), including preparation of a draft law to enable favourable regulations in this area, and supporting policy dialogue at the initial stage of the State Agency’s work in Ukraine.