The Integrity Office of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) held its annual Integrity Week, organizing a series of events for educational institutions and public officials. This initiative is aimed at popularizing the principles of integrity, transparency and anti-corruption in Ukraine. The events were attended by several thousand educators, schoolchildren, students and public servants.
One of the highlights of the Week was the All-Ukrainian Integrity Lesson, which was joined by schools from all over Ukraine. According to Alyona Khylko, representative of the NACP's Department of Educational Outreach and Training Programs, the main task of such lessons is to educate the future generation that will build a country without corruption.
"Thanks to the interesting presentation of the material and interactive tasks, students were able to better understand what integrity, corruption, and bribery are, why integrity is the basis of a just society, and how each student can promote these values in everyday life. The lessons were of practical importance, as the emphasis was placed on real-life examples that helped children realize the importance of their actions in the future,” said Natalia Shulga, director of Kyiv's Holosiivskyi Lyceum №241.
Interactive lessons on integrity and anti-corruption for Ukrainian schoolchildren were also conducted by students who are members of the Transparent Universities project and studying the discipline of Anti-Corruption and Integrity together with the NACP Integrity Office. The students learned about the forms of corruption, its consequences, and the role of everyone in the fight against this phenomenon. The lessons were held both online and offline, and all participants received certificates of participation.
The Integrity for Education forum brought together more than 100 educators, students and parents. Together, they discussed how to make the education system more honest and transparent.
Students from more than 20 Ukrainian universities studying the Anti-Corruption and Integrity course took part in online lectures discussing effective anti-corruption strategies, methods of combating online fraud, and the role of integrity in public life. The series of lectures was delivered by representatives of the NACP, the Cyber Police and the public sector. In particular, Oleksandr Starodubtsev, Advisor to the NACP Head, spoke about what integrity is at the level of the individual, the state and the country, and why it is important to adhere to high ethical standards in all spheres of life. Serhii Mytkalyk, Chairman of the Board of the Anti-Corruption Headquarters NGO and Deputy Chairman of the Public Council at the NACP, introduced students to innovative digital tools for public participation and monitoring of anti-corruption processes.
In addition, a number of webinars and trainings for public officials were held as part of the Integrity Week. In particular, a webinar on financial integrity brought together more than 4,000 participants. Among them were heads of organizations and institutions, authorized persons for the prevention and detection of corruption, representatives of human resources services, employees of state and local governments.
“The participants demonstrated high activity and interest in all our events. Schoolchildren enthusiastically participated in the discussions, students actively joined the initiatives, and public officials provided feedback on the implementation of the knowledge gained in practice,” said Alyona Khylko, Transparent School Project Manager.