The conference “The Ministry of Defense and Partnership with the Public: Cooperation, Achievements, Challenges” was held in Kyiv.
This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In particular, the purpose of the conference is to inform civil society about the progress of reforms in the defense sector and to develop models of joint work on defense policies.
The event was organized by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation and the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative with the participation of government officials and public charities.
First Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk emphasized the need for close cooperation with civil society to implement reforms and meet EU and NATO requirements.
“Despite the fact that Ukraine is now fighting one of the biggest enemies of the democratic world, we must implement reforms. This is necessary so that we can join the civilized world, join the NATO political and military bloc, and look to the future with confidence. To implement reforms and fulfill the requirements of the EU and NATO, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine needs close cooperation with civil society,” noted Ivan Havryliuk.
During the event, Deputy Minister of Defense for Institutional Development Stanislav Haider presented the directions of institutional changes, emphasizing the importance of the dialogue between the government and civil society as a key element of Ukraine’s victory in the current war.
“Victory is our common goal, so we must strengthen our dialogue, which will be converted into practical cooperation. We must intensify our model of interaction – consultations with stakeholders. This will help the Ministry of Defense to more actively develop the main areas of the ministry’s work,” he said.
In turn, Deputy Defense Minister Yuriy Dzhyhyr spoke about measures aimed at ensuring transparency and avoiding the risks of political interference: “One of the potential risks is political interference in the activities of internal audit. This compromises public confidence in the audit results and the financial management capacity of the Ministry. To mitigate this risk, we have established an independent audit committee of reputable certified experts from abroad.”
Liudmyla Darahan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, briefly described the development of civilian control in the Ministry of Defense: “After the adoption of the Law on National Security of Ukraine, 82% of the Ministry of Defense employees became civilians. We are gradually addressing these issues by ensuring the proper development and retention of civilian civil servants.”
At the same time, Deputy Minister of Defense Natalia Kalmykova emphasized the importance of the strategy’s personnel policy, which provides for the appointment of servicemen to positions in accordance with their professionalism and competence.
“Systemic changes are being implemented in the Defense Forces, a new personnel policy system is being created and a network of recruiting centers is being developed – there are already 22 of them. This week we plan to open three more,” said Natalia Kalmykova. As of May, the ratio of volunteers to mobilized people who joined the army is 1 to 3. This means that we still have the potential to defend Ukraine.”
Increasing the efficiency of these processes has been achieved, in part, through the digitalization of the Armed Forces. This was emphasized by Deputy Minister of Defense for Digital Development Kateryna Chernogorenko: “Digitalization of the army can help us achieve a 10:1 technological advantage over the enemy. Thanks to the Reserve+ application, which has been used by more than 1,400,000 citizens, we have seen that digitalization is no longer a trend, it is a requirement of our society. Next up is the launch of the Army+ app for the military, which will simplify bureaucratic processes in the army.”
