Specialists of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) conducted anti-corruption training events during a working visit to Kharkiv region.
The lectures and trainings aimed at developing professional competencies in the field of corruption prevention were attended by heads of structural units and anti-corruption commissioners of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, regional and city councils, district state administrations, as well as heads of enterprises, institutions, and organizations under the management of the Regional Military Administration.
“For the National Agency, you are partners who participate in the process of preventing corruption along with civil society organizations, media, law enforcement agencies, etc. That is why it is important for us to have specialists on the ground, in the regions, who understand preventive anti-corruption tools and know how to apply them in practice. The NACP has many functions and tools to combat and prevent corruption. However, our staff is quite small, so it is important to involve bodies, institutions and organizations in this work on the principles of good faith partnership,” said Deputy Head of the NACP Serhii Hupiak during the events.
Speaking to the participants of the events, Iryna Tymchenko, Head of the Public Sector Capacity Building and Integrity Department of the NACP's Outreach and Training Programs Division, noted that according to the survey, 89% of citizens consider corruption to be the most serious problem for Ukraine after a full-scale war, although 19.5% of the population had personal experience with corruption.
“To change the public discourse, which is mostly shaped by the media, we need to talk not only about fighting corruption, but also about developing public integrity, which is a strategic and sustainable response to corruption,” emphasized Iryna Tymchenko.
In the format of a lecture, she provided a step-by-step plan for building integrity in organizations, which is presented in the Manager's Guide “Building an Integrity and Effective Organization” developed by the NACP. The main focus was on the tasks and functions of the anti-corruption representatives; corruption risk management; conflict of interest; development, approval and implementation of anti-corruption programs; and work with the Unified Whistleblower Portal.
Other training activities conducted by the NACP team in the Kharkiv region were held in the format of practical training. The representatives were able to practice the skills necessary to effectively perform their job tasks, focusing on real-life useful cases, including identifying corruption-prone factors in draft documents and raising awareness of compliance with anti-corruption legislation.
As part of the working visit to Kharkiv region, the NACP team met with representatives of the city and regional authorities and took part in the panel discussion “Anti-Corruption Resilience of Ukraine: Challenges and Mechanisms to Support” at the VIII Kharkiv International Legal Forum.
