On December 22, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 1203: "On Approval of the Communication Strategy for Preventing and Combating Corruption until 2025 and Approval of the Operational Action Plan for its Implementation." The relevant order was published on the government's website.
The Communication Strategy has been developed to implement the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2023-2025 (SACP).
The main goal of the Communication Strategy is to change the socio-political discourse by increasing attention to the issue of preventing and combating corruption.
The strategic goals of the Communication Strategy include increasing public trust in government anti-corruption initiatives and government agencies; reducing tolerance to corruption and any of its manifestations; creating a communication infrastructure for the State Anti-Corruption Program (SACP); and ensuring effective communication between its implementers and the public.
"Adoption and implementation of this document is an extremely important step for the state and citizens. In fact, this is a step-by-step action plan that will help change the attitude of Ukrainians towards corruption, with a focus on prevention and conscious rejection of corrupt practices. We need to better inform citizens about their rights to control the actions of the authorities and about the benefits of choosing legal alternative services instead of corrupt ways of solving problems," said Oleksandr Novikov, the Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).
As a result, the Communication Strategy will increase public awareness of corruption and its consequences, reduce tolerance for any of its manifestations, and increase the willingness of Ukrainians to report possible facts of corruption or corruption-related offenses, etc.
The key indicators of the Communication Strategy implementation include increased understanding by Ukrainian citizens of the link between anti-corruption measures and the impact on national security, economic growth, and welfare; an increase in the share of Ukrainian citizens who condemn corruption; a decrease in the share of those who have had their own corruption experience, etc.
The anti-corruption bodies and other authorities will implement the operational plan of measures for its implementation, which has been developed until 2025. The strategy and the operational plan are a roadmap for the implementers. As early as 2024, a number of awareness-raising campaigns on public control, the use of electronic services as an alternative to corrupt practices, regular media events on anti-corruption issues, the promotion of integrity, etc. are planned. No budgetary funds are planned to be used to implement the Strategy's measures.
The work on the Strategy and the Operational Plan lasted from April to July 2023. The NACP discussed and tested the draft Communication Strategy with the media, communicators, implementers of the State Anti-Corruption Program; NGOs, and the public at the NACP and agreed to the documents with 73 authorities.
The NACP is grateful to all the experts and representatives of the authorities, including the anti-corruption commissioners and communication units, civil society institutions, the media, and the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI), for their joint work on the strategic document.
The Communication Strategy and Operational Plan are available here.
As a reminder, according to a national survey on civic engagement conducted under USAID/ENGAGE in 2022, citizens believe that, in addition to strengthening the country's defense capabilities and rebuilding its infrastructure, the fight against corruption should be the country's top post-war priority. Thus, 36% of respondents say that eradicating corruption is one of the main post-war priorities.
