Results of the Good Governance Forum – 2020

On December 18, The Aspen Institute Kyiv held the third annual Good Governance Forum, which is part of the Good Governance Program.

The theme of this year’s Forum is “Communities: Prospects for Ukraine”.

The forum aims to support a platform for dialogue between national and local leaders to discuss the main directions of further reform and development of local self-government, analysis of the prospects of the Ukrainian economy in 2021, in particular, in the context of development of Ukrainian communities.

Welcoming remarks at the beginning of the Forum were made by:

– Natalia Yaresko – Executive Director of the Financial Control and Management Board of Puerto Rico, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board at The Aspen Institute Kyiv, who stressed the importance of implementing the principles and best practices of good governance in Ukraine and outlined the role of The Aspen Institute Kyiv in this process.

– Olena Boitsun – Director of Investment, Central and Eastern Europe, Luminate, Member of the Supervisory Board at The Aspen Institute Kyiv, who stressed the value of open dialogue for the implementation of decentralization reform.

“The Good Governance Program creates a dialogue platform to discuss societal issues, current public policy issues, local and global challenges. We aim to disseminate knowledge about the principles and best practices of good governance,” said Natalia Yaresko, the Chairwomen of the Supervisory Board of The Aspen Institute of Kyiv.

Two panel discussions took place within the Forum.

Decentralization in Ukraine: challenges and prospects

The discussion was devoted to considering the next steps in the reform, streamlining the activities of public authorities and local governments in connection with changes in the territorial and administrative structure of Ukraine, current legislative initiatives, as well as ways to increase the institutional capacity of local governments. The panel discussion was attended by:

– Andriy Klochko – Chairman of the Committee of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development.

– Vitaliy Bezgin – Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Organization of the Committee of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development.

– Larysa Bilozir – Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Services and Administrative Procedures of the Committee of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on State Building, Local Governance, Regional and Urban Development.

– Vyacheslav Negoda – Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories of Ukraine.

– Serhiy Sukhomlin – the Zhytomyr mayor.

– Oleksandr Slobozhan – Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

– Oleksandr Korinny – Chairman of the United Communities Association, Novoukrainka Mayor.

– Julia Yesmukhanova – acting USAID DOBRE Program Director, panel discussion moderator.

Prospects for the Ukrainian economy in 2021

The discussion was dedicated to the considering of macroeconomic forecasts for 2021, expectations for the formation of budgets at various levels and opportunities for economic development of territorial communities. The panel discussion was attended by:

– Yulia Kovaliv – Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

– Serhiy Marchenko – Minister of Finance of Ukraine.

– Dmytro Natalukha – Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development.

– Tymofiy Mylovanov – Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine (2019-2020), freelance advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

– Olena Bilan – Chief Economist of Dragon Capital, moderator of the panel discussion.

Finally, Yulia Tychkivska, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute Kyiv, made a closing statement, summarizing the results of the Forum and emphasizing the importance of developing the Good Governance Program and spreading a culture of dialogue in consultation with stakeholders in the reform.

“By implementing the dialogue component of the Good Governance Program, we have once again seen the paramount importance of stakeholder dialogue as one of the tools for developing and implementing public policy. Properly organized dialogue allows to involve stakeholders at the formulation stage, and therefore the regulatory decisions are more balanced and have a much better chance of practical implementation, ” said Yulia Tychkivska, Executive Director of The Aspen Institute Kyiv.

Thank you to all our speakers, viewers and partners!

The Good Governance program is being developed with the support of a grant from Luminate.