On December 8, the online conference “Achievements and challenges for administrative services provision in 2020-2021” was organised by U-LEAD with Europe Programme’s Support to improved administrative service delivery. More than 300 representatives of public authorities, international projects, hromada leadership, heads and staff of ASCs discussed legislation, best practices in administrative services provision and formed an agenda for 2021.

“Access to public services in a modern, digital and transparent way is crucial for the quality of life in hromadas. This is also of clear benefit for the private sector. I am proud that the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, of which the EU is the main contributor, is supporting the decentralisation reform in Ukraine and will help establish 489 Administrative service centers throughout its territory. These centres deliver on a daily basis key public services such as passport services, registration of business, land and real estate, registration to receive social subsidies. The EU will continue to provide comprehensive support to Ukrainian government and hromadas to improve the quality of public services and thus the life of citizens. We are moving forward together”, – noted Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Ambassador Matti Maasikas welcoming the participants of the event.  

Among the priorities for 2021, the participants identified:

• timely transformation of District State Administration ASCs into local self-government ASC, so that citizens do not feel the deterioration in access to administrative services during the transition period;
• proper coordination and methodological support for the transfer of premises and other property of the District State Administration ASCs to local self-government ASC;
• further decentralization of authorities to provide the most popular administrative services to the competence of local self-government, especially in the field of registration of civil status acts;
• integration of pension and certain tax administrative services in the ASC;
• maintaining state and donor support for hromadas to develop the ASC network;
• transparent and rational fees for administrative services, through the adoption of the Law On Administrative Fees (#4380) to provide local self-government with sustainable compensation resources for quality services provision to citizens and businesses;
• digital transformation of the administrative services and ensuring that the opinion of local self-government bodies and their associations is considered in reforming the sphere of administrative services.

Tobias Thyberg, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine, who also took part in the event, emphasized: “The well-being of every Ukrainian woman and man, boy and girl is the main objective for Sweden’s support to Ukraine’s Decentralisation Reform and the cooperation in building a service state. We are therefore proud to contribute to and be a part of U-LEAD with Europe, a programme where we cooperate closely with the new hromadas to realise the Decentralisation Reform and improve the quality of administrative services. I am confident that the joint efforts of the state, hromadas and also international partners in Ukraine will create comfortable and modern Administrative Service Centres, which residents will visit with trust and high expectations”.

The conference also involved a separate panel devoted to donor plans for 2021 to support hromadas, particularly in terms of administrative services. The discussion was attended by representatives of Canada, Switzerland and the EU, who also stressed the continued support of Ukrainian hromadas in their efforts to improve the lives of their residents.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, addressed the participants: “Our main goal is to make public services easily accessible for all Ukrainians. We need to convince the society that public services can be convenient, transparent and humane. That is why our priority for 2021 is digitalisation, maximum accessibility, and transparency of service provision to both residents and businesses”.

In the beginning of 2020, the U-LEAD with Europe Programme’s Support to Improved Administrative Service Delivery presented the White Paper in the field of administrative services, which outlined the key areas of policy activities. During the year more than 40% of the Programme's proposals were implemented, and another 30% of strategic proposals were registered as draft laws. As for technical issues, more than 50% of the planned activities were implemented, such as the possibility of using the  stamps by ASC administrators, simplification of qualification requirements for administrators to access the land cadastre, etc.

“The results, plans and priorities outlined today are shaping our agenda in administrative services, which is common to all involved partners, first of all, the Ukrainian hromadas. For us, the U-LEAD Programme’s Team, for our donors – the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden, it is very important to focus on the needs and challenges that primarily concern local government, because they are the driving force to establish well-functioning ASCs and bring services closer to all residents”, summed up Susanna Dellans, Sida Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe.

The conference was also attended by Oleksiy Vyskub, First Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Ludmyla Rabchynska, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Vitaliy Muzychenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Olga Onishchuk, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Ivan Lukerya, Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Vitalii Bezgin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Organization of the Verkhovna Rada Committee, Natalia Kalenichenko, Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Service of Ukraine for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalisation, as well as other experts and specialists in the field of administrative services.