The Agency for Restoration🇺🇦 enhances its Anti-Corruption Program: Three key updates you should know
State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine
Solid partner in rebuilding national infrastructure.
Russia has a favored narrative: Ukraine is corrupt, and there’s no hope for change. Our response, while not completely dismantling this myth, encourages critical thinking: Ukraine’s "On Prevention of Corruption" law, the Anti-Corruption Strategy, the State Anti-Corruption Program, and the work of NABU, SAPO, HACC, and NACP. Since 2015, Ukraine has built an anti-corruption infrastructure, and experts from Transparency International agree that the country has achieved more in this area over the past decade than in all the previous years of independence.
Part of this transformation includes mandatory anti-corruption programs in government institutions. The Agency for Restoration adopted its program in July 2023, and regional offices followed with their own programs in the fall of that year.
“The ‘On Prevention of Corruption’ law defines who must adopt anti-corruption programs. Article 19 requires all central executive bodies, regional state administrations, and councils to implement such programs, while Article 62 extends this obligation to certain state enterprises. Although our regional offices are neither government bodies nor state enterprises and are therefore not required to have such programs, every office adopted one—and even updated them after the first year of implementation. No other central executive body has approved anti-corruption programs for both structural and territorial units,” explains Yurii Sverba , Deputy Head of the Agency for Restoration.
The Anti-Corruption Program is risk-based
The program begins with a detailed risk analysis. Each identified risk is assigned a number, weight, mitigation measures, deadlines, and responsible parties. When the program was adopted, the Agency identified 38 risks and 82 mitigation measures. Over the past year, it implemented 48 measures and added 40 more. Currently, the program includes 46 risks and 122 mitigation actions.
The anti-corruption program is a living document, reviewed annually. Quarterly reports on its implementation are submitted to the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP). In January, the program was updated, reflecting the first year of its implementation and incorporating findings from independent audits by the State Audit Service and the Accounting Chamber.
What’s new?
The program now includes 10 additional risks, such as the lack of transparency in appointing regional office heads and insufficient digitalization. Key measures to address these include:
👉 Clear rules for leadership appointments
One of the newly identified risks involves the lack of transparent procedures for appointing leaders of regional offices and state enterprises managed by the Agency. These appointments currently occur without competitive selection or clear procedures, raising concerns about fairness.
HR Director Bohdana Yaremchuk explains that the Agency has already developed and tested a transparent selection process for central office leadership positions:
“We created a procedure that ensures transparency and clarity in appointments within the Agency. After refining it in practice, we plan to adapt this approach for regional offices to eliminate doubts about fairness and strengthen trust at the local level.”
The new procedure for regional offices will include:
This framework aims to establish equal opportunities and reduce risks associated with opaque decisions.
👉 Digital Transformation
While many Agency processes still rely on paper and manual operations, progress is underway.
“We are developing a Digital Development Plan as a foundation for automating our processes. We’ve already implemented a geoinformation database for road management and launched the E-Road platform to track funding allocations, monitor works, and generate analytics dashboards integrated with the treasury and Prozorro,” explains Roman Komendant, Deputy Head of Digital Transformation.
Planned improvements include:
Digitalization will enhance transparency, reduce risks, and build trust in the Agency’s work.
👉 Transparent asset management
Managing assets remains a challenge due to fragmented records and outdated paper-based systems. This complicates accounting, transfer, or decommissioning and increases the risk of errors and misuse.
The Agency plans to introduce a unified digital asset management system, enabling:
Transparent asset management ensures not just order but also trust, making every hryvnia work effectively.
This is a continuous effort
Risk mitigation is an ongoing process. While digital systems address documentation issues, they also bring new challenges, such as cybersecurity threats.
By regularly analyzing risks, the Agency identifies problems early and implements solutions, ensuring transparency, trust, and efficiency in Ukraine’s recovery efforts—especially crucial now, when every day and every hryvnia are critical for the country.