Open data is necessary for the effective reconstruction of Ukraine

Open data is necessary for the effective reconstruction of Ukraine.

 

This conclusion was made by the participants of the press conference "Open Data and Corruption Risks. Why is open information important for the public and business?" which was held on May 19 on the platform Ukrinform.

After February 24, most open data was restricted for public use for security reasons. However, as the practice has shown, not all data currently requires concealment, and this approach negatively affects the work of state and local authorities and businesses and impedes the effective reconstruction of Ukraine.

According to YouControl CEO Serhiy Milman, open data is one of the most important levers in preventing corruption at various levels of government and attracting foreign investment: "Access to open data allows our allied countries to see the openness of our intentions and how the funds allocated to Ukraine are distributed. In particular, effective monitoring of the reconstruction process through the use of open data allows us to avoid power abuse by officials, double duplication of funding for reconstruction projects, unjustified prioritization of funding for reconstruction projects by officials or oligarchs, dishonest contractors/builders, and fraudulent schemes for the sale of damaged facilities."

In addition, Ukraine suffers huge financial losses daily due to closed data.

"Kyiv School of Economics conducted a study together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and TAPAS to calculate the monetary impact of open data on the country. We can't verify this study because the data is not available, but we were able to calculate the opposite effect. Thus, over the past year, Ukraine lost about UAH 36 billion, or UAH 90 million every day, due to the closure of data that should be open by law," said Milman.

Open data affects the business environment, the public sector, and the media, which are supposed to control the government.

"We have a big problem with declarations. A very few MPs have submitted declarations to the NACP, and the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, is responsible for this. It was he who introduced the legislative initiative, which the committee supported, and it is still not being brought to the session hall. As the head of the faction, he must attract the votes of MPs for this initiative, especially since it is a public demand. Similarly, the parties do not report on the money spent, and we will not know who financed the forbidden parties," said Iryna Fedoriv, chief editor of the CHESNO Movement.

"The urgent reconstruction that is needed "for yesterday" is already underway, in particular, in Kyiv, we see some positive results. However, it is almost impossible to find information about who is responsible for this process, how it is being carried out, and how much money was paid for it. Similarly, future successful, transparent, and accountable long-term reconstruction is impossible without open data on this process and the processes in the country in general," emphasized Andriy Borovyk, Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine.

In preparation for the future recovery of Ukraine, the Ministry of Restoration, together with the RISE Coalition recently presented the DREAM communication platform - a unified electronic ecosystem for recovery management, which is expected to ensure the publication of open data on reconstruction in accordance with the global Open Contracting Data Standard https://bit.ly/3Mu1Z.tT

According to Serhiy Milman, Ukraine currently needs to open the following registers that are closed:

• Spending - information that is made public in accordance with the law of Ukraine on the open use of public funds
• The Register of Declarations is a unified state register of declarations for persons authorized to perform state or local self-government functions.
•  The Register of corrupt officials is a unified state register of persons who have committed corruption or corruption-related offenses
• The Register of Seized Assets is a unified state register of assets seized in criminal proceedings.

 

"Closed data is a weakening of Ukraine in terms of support from Western partners, as it depends heavily on reducing corruption, transparency, and efficiency of the Ukrainian government. In addition, opening some public data is indeed a matter of survival and a clear advantage for the operation of critical business functions and central and local authorities. Therefore, opening access to public data should be done today in the context of Ukraine’s future reconstruction and security," summarized the moderator of the event, Borys Danevych, Partner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang - Ukraine.

 

The UNIC is grateful to the participants and speakers of the press conference for the constructive dialogue on the importance of data disclosure and informative speeches.

The video broadcast of the event is available at https://bit.ly/3ML0RTV