On 17-19 June 2024, the Corporate Governance Professional Association (CGPA), together with the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine (Mininfrastructure), held the first program, “Corporate Governance and Anti-Corruption Compliance at Municipal Enterprises“.
“Tone at the Top” is the key to the success of any organisation. The right tone from the top sets the direction of development and becomes the main principle of implementing an effective anti-corruption compliance system in companies.
The program was developed and implemented with the support of the EBRD Ukraine Stabilisation and Sustainable Growth Multi-Donor Account (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, the largest donor).
The pilot project’s target audience was the heads of municipal enterprises, representatives of local authorities who own such enterprises, and anticorruption officers of municipal enterprises, institutions, and organisations managed by regional, district administrations, and local councils (or persons entrusted with these tasks).
Out of more than 200 applications for the program, 45 participants representing different areas of municipal organisations and enterprises were selected. Among them were heads and anticorruption officers of municipal non-profit healthcare enterprises of Kyiv and Kyiv region, municipal educational institutions, heat and power, water utilities, housing maintenance, construction of road transport facilities, forestry, greenery maintenance, city lighting, airport, water fund land maintenance and operation enterprises, and others.
The developers and speakers of the program were professionals in the field of anti-corruption compliance and corporate governance, long-term teachers of CGPA anti-corruption officer training programs: Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Board of Directors, Olga Shenk, Partner of Dispute Resolution and Compliance Practice at the Kyiv office of CMS CAMERON MCKENNA NABARRO OLSWANG, Oleg Lagodiyenko, Director of Ethicontrol, Kateryna Datsko, Executive Director of the NGO “Foundation for Institutional Development”, UNDP Ukraine National Consultant on professional development of anti-corruption officers for the recovery process, and Anna Fedorenko, UNDP Ukraine National Consultant on strengthening coordination of anti-corruption officers to increase transparency and accountability of the recovery process in Ukraine.
The program started with a broad discussion of the factors that, in the participants’ opinion, complicate activities aimed at preventing corruption in municipal enterprises and the challenges they face. The participants also shared their own achievements and small victories on the way to establishing an anti-corruption system in their organizations. Adam Lewis, Principal, Project Integrity at the EBRD, Sergiy Derkach, Deputy Minister of Community, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, and Vladyslava Prokofieva, representative of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), joined the discussion as invited experts and key stakeholders in the process of establishing a proper anti-corruption compliance system in municipal enterprises.
Next, the participants acquainted themselves with international and national standards of anti-corruption work, analysed where responsibility for anti-corruption compliance should lie in a utility company’s corporate governance structure, assessed corruption risks, studied the hotline’s work, and worked with reports of corruption violations. In addition, the speakers discussed the development of basic anti-corruption policies for utility companies, ensuring the effective implementation of the company’s anti-corruption program and verifying its effectiveness.
All participants successfully passed the final test and received certificates. In their feedback, they noted that the program is very relevant and timely and should be attended by both utility company managers and appointed commissioners; the high professionalism of the speakers and the practicality of all presentations allow for quick and effective application of the knowledge gained in practice.
Iryna Kolechkina, First Deputy Director of the municipal non-profit enterprise of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration) “Communication Center”, in her feedback, noted that “the program is very rich and informative; special thanks for the high professionalism of the speakers, their explanations from their own practical experience. The course program provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the norms of Ukrainian legislation on the introduction of anti-corruption compliance in public utilities and also allowed us to deepen our knowledge of international legislation, which may be integrated into the national one in the future.“
Stepan Gorash from the municipal enterprise for maintaining green spaces in the Pechersk district of Kyiv noted that the program “impresses with its relevance and practical focus. The lecturers, who are real experts, explain the principles of management and corruption prevention mechanisms in an accessible way, providing real cases and practical advice. The excellent organisation and interactive format facilitate effective learning. I recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their skills in these areas.“
Oksana Odarchenko, Anti-Corruption Officer and Anti-Corruption Program Implementation Officer of the municipal enterprise for the maintenance of green spaces in Obolon district of Kyiv, noted that “the event was organised at the highest level, taking into account the interests of both offline and online listeners. The speakers of the program are highly competent; the information is provided in an easy, accessible form with a lot of handouts. A big advantage of the program is the recording of lectures and access to all materials in electronic format.“
Фотографії надані Raccoon Gang