Chernivtsi will become the first Integrity City in Ukraine. This was announced by Oleksiy Kaspruk, Chernivtsi City Mayor, during presentation of the “Integrity City of Chernivtsi” project on 21 May 2018.
The project is implemented by the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) jointly with Deloitte. The EUACI is a technical assistance programme to Ukraine funded by the European Union and implemented and co-funded by DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency). The objective of the “Integrity City of Chernivtsi” project is to develop and implement measures aimed at minimising and eliminating corruption risks. The project will focus on enhancing accountability and transparency of local governance through efficient mechanisms of identification, counteraction and prevention of corruption.
“We are pleased that the European Union's largest anti-corruption programme in Ukraine has selected Chernivtsi as the first of the five cities in the project to implement the mechanisms to minimise corruption on local government level that have already proven effective in other countries. Last year we signed the Memorandum of Understanding between Chernivtsi and the EUACI, and today the project team came to get started,” said Oleksiy Kaspruk, Chernivtsi City Mayor.
The project will consist of two parts: assessment of corruption risks in the city, and implementation of mechanisms for reducing and counteracting corruption.
Eka Tkeshelashvili, Head of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine, said: “We engage one of the leading consulting firms in the world to work with the mayor’s team. Our program and Deloitte share the same vision of the importance of strengthening the local authorities’ potential, in particular, in the context of decentralization reform. It is important to note that the mayor’s team shares this vision as well. For our part, we are pleased to provide the resources that are necessary to drive their own aspiration to improve the quality of services provided and to engage civil society in active participation in the development of the city.”
As part of the project, Deloitte's experts will help the city authorities to develop the City Integrity Plan, the concept of electronic reception, to set up a separate unit for dealing with corruption risks, and will propose how to improve the procedure for holding public hearings for a better involvement of city residents in the decision-making process.
“We will start off our work in Chernivtsi with assessing the corruption risks that arise in local government. It is a precautionary measure for identifying the corruption, risk factors for integrity and the risks at the institutional, procedural and industry-specific levels. We will, in close cooperation with the city council experts, assist with developing an action plan and implementing effective tools for reducing the identified risks", commented Iryna Patronyk, project manager, coordinator of the Deloitte Municipal and Regional Development Industry Group in Ukraine.
The project will be ongoing in Chernivtsi until the end of 2018. The same project will be implemented in four other Ukrainian cities as well.
