Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili and Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation Yevhen Bystrytsky hosted a roundtable with NGO representatives of Odessa and the Odessa region to identify joint actions aiming at fighting corruption in the region.
Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration Mikheil Saakashvili and Executive Director of the International Renaissance Foundation Yevhen Bystrytsky hosted a roundtable with NGO representatives of Odessa and the Odessa region to identify joint actions aiming at fighting corruption in the region. The roundtable participants discussed and agreed on the first steps of a cooperation program between the civil society and the regional state administration.
The International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) will provide support to civic initiatives that will contribute to the implementation of the anti-corruption policy in the Odessa region. IRF’s support will be open for expert and analytical groups that will undertake independent civic operational audit of the Odessa Regional State Administration, identify corruption risks, oversee the administration of public procurement, assist in receiving complaints and proposals from individuals, and help build a direct dialogue between the Administration and the citizens.
It is expected that the civil society will propose effective mechanisms to control not only the operation of the Odessa Regional State Administration, but also of other state institutions.
The initiative also involves training and sharing of best practices of identifying and countering corruption for civil society activists, and building capacity of civil servants to implement the new anti-corruption legislation.
The Roundtable was instrumental in establishing the feedback between representatives of the Odessa Regional State Administration and the civic activists. The participants highlighted cases of corrupt actions by 
civil servants and agreed on further direct communication to ensure the ongoing flow of anti-corruption proposals to be implemented at the local level.
The Roundtable participants noted the importance of an independent civic audit of the authorities’ performance, the disclosure of corruption schemes and communicating the anti-corruption efforts broadly in the society.
The second Anti-corruption Roundtable in the region is planned to take place in late July 2015.
Representatives of the Odessa Regional State Administration, the International Renaissance Foundation, and NGO experts will partner with the Roundtable participants to identify anti-corruption action priorities that will serve as the basis for an open Call for Proposals for civic initiatives.
Contact: Yevhen Popov, Head, South Ukrainian Office, International Renaissance Foundation, popov@irf.ua, +38 048 796 12 04
