Support to Ukraine’s Reforms for Governance Program.
Funded by Global Affairs Canada. Implemented by Alinea.
Support to Ukraine’s Reforms for Governance Program.
Funded by Global Affairs Canada. Implemented by Alinea.
Making everyday life easier for all Ukrainians
The Government of Ukraine is committed to building systems that improve the lives of all citizens.
The SURGe Program team uses international best practices and engages Ukrainian experts to foster capacity and ensure sustainable progress in governance. Through a series of Reform Projects, this Program supports the government to make systems responsive to the needs of citizens, with a focus on the country’s most vulnerable. This work extends to central government planning by building capacity for results-based management, gender equality and social inclusion.
No jobs found
Alinea – Ukraine Announcement
Memorandum of Cooperation signed to support inclusive economic and social recovery in Ukrainian communities
Humanitarian Assistance Governance Reform Project
The SURGe project team, in partnership with Canada-Ukraine Foundation and AFYA Foundation, continues to provide essential medical assistance, vital medical equipment, and materials to war-affected health facilities in East Ukraine.
Support in developing proposals for the Plan of the Recovery of Ukraine from the war for the period up to 2032
The SURGe project provided methodological support to working groups of the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine “Social Protection” and “Protection of Children’s Rights” in developing proposals for the Plan of the Recovery of Ukraine from the war
“10 days in queues are now 10 clicks in the app.” – New parent benefitting from yeMalyatko
New parents in Ukraine faced up to 30 hours in 11 government offices collecting 37 documents to register their baby and apply for social payments. In close partnership with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, other government stakeholders and international partners, the SURGe team supported the design and implementation of the yeMalyatko service, which brings together nine services related to registering a new born child. Based on an example from the Government of Canada, the SURGe team developed the concept, obtained support from government leaders, bundled services appropriately and revised processes. Once the revisions were agreed, the team drafted legislation and developed a training program for administrative service staff providing this service. With yeMalyatko, registration is complete in just 10 minutes online, or offline in maternity hospitals, at state registration offices, or in citizen-friendly and inclusive Administrative Service Centres. The SURGe team is currently drafting legislation to further institutionalize yeMalyatko through the Parliament.
– Administrative Services Reform Project
“Parents do not place their children in institutions due to lack of care, but because social welfare issues leave them uncertain about their ability to care.”
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2,798 families saw their children returned home as fears of the pandemic spreading through institutions ignited. The SURGe team supported local government in the Lviv Region to assess the needs of those vulnerable families during lockdown so authorities could quickly respond. Research showed most of these families lived on the poverty line, with 65 per cent noting the importance of financial support in order to care for their children. The SURGe team linked 729 families in need with local social services for the first time, and facilitated packages of basic food and household items for 700 families. The SURGe team is currently working with local service providers, community organizations, social workers and local government representatives to conduct a large-scale needs assessment to understand what services exist, how these services could be improved, the needs of families with young children and pregnant women, and more.
–Community Services for Children Reform Project
“The future of Ukraine depends on quality education being available to all children.”
The Institutional Audit Toolkit is a new tool built by the SURGe team to ensure Ukrainian students have access to high quality education in all schools across the country. Using this tool, the SURGe team supported the State Service for Education Quality to organize institutional audits across the country and train experts to develop clear and evidence-based conclusions with practical recommendations. Between October 2020 and April 2021, 107 school audits were conducted with support and coaching from the SURGe team. Auditors are gaining confidence in their work and local authorities are starting to implement the recommendations. A school audit in the Volyn Region resulted in recommendations for the local government to fund improvements to the school grounds to make them more welcoming and child-friendly. The audit took place at the school in December 2020 and by March 2021, the local government, based on recommendations of the audit, allocated sufficient funds for improvements.
–Quality Education Reform Project
“A prison term being an opportunity to access rehabilitation programs is a key step to a safer Ukraine.”
To support the focus on rehabilitation in Ukraine’s prison system, the SURGe team initiated a working group to develop the Risk and Needs Assessment Tool (RNA Tool). Using the tool, correctional staff assess risks that might cause an incarcerated person to reoffend upon release, and consider what the person might need to decrease their risk of reoffending, such as job training or addiction counselling. The SURGe team worked with prison staff to pilot the tool in 10 prisons, for both males and females at different security levels. The SURGe team also developed and piloted case management tools, designed to see incarcerated people through their time in prison and track successful strategies. The pilot program led to improvements for both the RNA and case management tools, approved by the Ministry of Justice in late 2020 – early 2021. A pilot is now underway on an updated conditional release decision making process to ensure fairness and transparency.
–Corrections Reform Project
“Transformation of the healthcare system has become a measuring stick of broader changes across Ukraine.”
When seeking medical care, Ukrainians often paid out-of-pocket to access health services and facilities, raising serious questions about how the system allocated tax dollars. The SURGe team developed the digital architecture of the State Owned Enterprise eHealth (SOE eHealth) system, creating safe and reliable management of sensitive medical data for 42 million Ukrainian citizens. The SOE eHealth system includes a database of doctors, patients and medical institutions, and a transparent health staff salary system. Patients can now choose a family doctor and healthcare facility, which creates competition and improves quality of care across the sector. As of 2021, more than 70 per cent of patients (approximately 30 million people) reported satisfaction with their family doctor and most family doctors reported satisfaction with salaries. Patients pay less out-of-pocket for health services and have greater access to medications. Additionally, electronic prescriptions are widespread, improving management of the medication reimbursement program.
–eHealth Reform Project
“Public investment is a key policy tool that affects quality of life and shapes choices about where people live and work.”
Working with government representatives in two pilot oblasts, Chernihivska and Cherkaska, the SURGe team conducted surveys to learn about citizen needs that could be met with improved public investment. The needs assessment revealed that challenges are much broader than just financing investment – public authorities also lack the appropriate governance arrangements to make the best use of funding. The SURGe team identified 85 gaps across 15 OECD-recommended capacities for effective public investment, with key gaps in strategic planning, budget alignment and lack of coordination. The research also showed that citizens are not informed about the implementation of investment projects and there is not an effective public investment monitoring and evaluation system. This process culminated in discussion about more than 200 recommendations to national, regional and local authorities on legislative, organizational and capacity building measures designed to transform public investment into a driving force for the development of regions and communities.
–Public Investment Governance Reform Project
Current Reform Projects
Prevention of Human Trafficking
Crisis Communications
Food Security
Humanitarian Assistance Governance
1300: Facilitating the Development and Monitoring of the National Reform Agenda
Quality Assurance in Education
Criminal Justice
Child Protection
Prevention of Human Trafficking
Crisis Communications
Food Security
Humanitarian Assistance Governance
1300: Facilitating the Development and Monitoring of the National Reform Agenda
Quality Assurance in Education
Criminal Justice
Child Protection
Completed Reform Projects
Administrative Services
ANP-NATO
Border Infrastructure Development
Public Investment Governance
Administrative Services
ANP-NATO
Border Infrastructure Development
Public Investment Governance
Border Infrastructure Development
We worked in close partnership with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine to identify issues at border checkpoints and suggest ways to resolve them, to ensure that the waiting time for citizens at border checkpoints is reduced while maintaining legitimacy of border crossing. During wartime Ukraine faced new challenges in the border management – an unprecedented increase in the number of people, goods and humanitarian assistance crossing the border. This required an operational and strategic response from the Ukrainian government, which we helped to develop.
Facts/General data:
- 12 governmental bodies are responsible for border management.
- 36 cross border checkpoints operate on the Ukraine – EU border.
- 3 million people crossed Ukraine—EU and Ukraine—Republic of Moldova border during first 100 days of russia’s war against Ukraine.
People seeking disability status should not face travel to multiple government offices and require dozens of pieces of documentation. This process, affecting more than 2.7 million Ukrainians, should be simple, respectful and reflected in changes underway to make administrative services more accessible, less bureaucratic and increasingly innovative for everyone. The Administrative Services Reform Project is part of the Government of Ukraine’s work with SURGe, which has already implemented key changes to improve and digitize how Ukrainians access administrative services. This includes obtaining important documents, such as marriage licences and passports. For example, the online Guide to Public Services provides information supporting citizens through life events – from buying a car to registering a birth and returning from the military.
Implemented by PROTECT as of Spring 2021
As Ukraine seeks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), work is underway to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the reforms required to meet NATO principles and standards. The Annual National Program (ANP) – NATO Reform Project is part of the Government of Ukraine’s work with SURGe. The ANP, produced yearly under the Ukraine-NATO Commission, includes 100+ nation-wide sectoral reforms. More than 40 per cent of the policy areas addressed are social and economic, reflected in national priorities on the rule of law, energy, security and the environment.
National Level Planning
Citizen-Oriented Policy Results for Ukrainians is an approach used by the SURGe program to strengthen the capacity of the Government of Ukraine to design the national reform agenda based on the needs of citizens, and to track progress in a results-based manner through the PROJECT digital platform. The New Cabinet of Minister Program will be monitored in the PROJECT digital planner by the President, the Prime Minister and other senior civil servants will have customized dashboards to ensure optimal transparency and accountability.
Currently we are finalizing the Cabinet of Ministers’ Program which will include implementation plans taken through a unique approach to the Ukrainian government, Results-Based Management
– Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine
Public Investment Governance
To ensure that Ukrainians flourish in well-governed territorial communities with a high quality of life, we reformed the approach to public investment governance by integrating a citizen-oriented model in regional development. With the new approach, each public investment project, implemented by the community, must address the needs of various groups of citizens. The potentials and risks of each local community must be considered while planning and implementing state regional policy.
- We built the fundamentals of reform of public investment governance through the development of key law amendments.
- Three-level approach to strategic planning was introduced in Ukraine, methodological recommendations for communities on the development of local development strategies is elaborated.
- 43% of territorial communities have local development strategies in place.
Community Services for Children Reform Project
SURGe works to prevent children from entering the welfare system. Integrated child-oriented services in the community are a key focus, implemented within the National Strategy of Reforming the Institutional Care and Upbringing of Children for 2017-2026. Throughout 2020, SURGe helped the local government of the Lviv Region assess 2,798 families of institutionalized children returned home due to the global pandemic and used this data to address their urgent needs during lockdown. This is one example of work underway to provide all children with a safe family or family-like environment.
eHealth Reform Project
When seeking medical care, Ukrainians often paid out-of-pocket to access health services and facilities, raising serious questions about how the system allocated tax dollars. A fundamental shift was required to provide patients with financial protection in the case of disease, adjust resources to directly meet their needs and address low compensation for healthcare providers. The eHealth Reform Project helped introduce changes that empower patients, particularly those in vulnerable groups, as they navigate the healthcare system. For example, patients can now choose a family doctor and healthcare facility, which creates competition and improves quality of care across the sector. Patients pay less out-of-pocket for health services and have increased access to medications. Additionally, electronic prescriptions improve transparency and effective management of the medication reimbursement program.
Corrections Reform Project
Due to high incarceration rates and concerns about human rights violations, Ukraine requires new approaches to corrections. Through the Corrections Reform Project, SURGe supports the Ukrainian government to significantly decrease the number of people incarcerated through alternative sanctions and probation options for crimes of minor and medium gravity, with a focus on human rights. This shift requires an individualized approach for each offender, including assessment of their rehabilitative needs balanced with their risk of re-offending. Decreasing the number of incarcerated people increases the protection of human rights, funding available to the Government of Ukraine for rehabilitation and trust in the corrections system – creating safer communities.
Quality Education Reform Project
SURGe works with government institutions and local school principals to develop mechanisms to improve access to quality education and build safe learning environments for all students across Ukraine. This Reform Project is part of the Quality Assurance (QA) System transformation, which is one of the New Ukrainian School reform pillars. SURGe supports the State Service of Education Quality to set and implement new standards, apply QA instruments and help schools improve the quality of educational activities – all of which contribute to promoting public confidence in the education system and improving learning outcomes for students.
Prevention of Human Trafficking
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than six million refugees from Ukraine, the vast majority of whom are women and children, have crossed borders into neighboring countries. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and other purposes is one of the biggest risks for women and children fleeing Ukraine. SURGe launched a new Reform Initiative on Prevention of Human Trafficking. In cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and the Government Gender Commissioner, SURGe developed information leaflets, infographics and a website to prevent girls and women crossing the border from getting into risky and dangerous situations.
Crisis Communications
In cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, SURGe works on designing and delivering communications campaigns aimed at countering Russian fakes and disinformation. We contributed to the launch of the “Umbrella for Ukraine” campaign targeting citizens of western countries to apply pressure on their governments to protect the sky over Ukraine and provide military assistance.
Food Security
Russia’s war on Ukraine is leading to a worldwide food crisis. Lacking the resources to sow up to 30% of its farmlands, Ukraine may lose 30–72% of its cereal and vegetable harvest in 2022. In the early days of the Russian war against Ukraine, SURGe established the national Victory Gardens movement: thousands of Ukrainians have taken food security into their own hands by planting gardens in backyards and other available local land. They are planting to support themselves and their communities to ensure every person in Ukraine has enough food in the wartime and after.
Humanitarian Assistance Governance
With a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, SURGe designed and launched the Humanitarian Assistance Governance initiative with the main focus on preventing the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The war has left millions of Ukrainians without homes and regular access to food, water and medicine. The initiative is also focused on establishing good governance mechanisms for strong connections with donor organizations in the international community and with civil society organizations (CSO) in Ukraine.
1300: Facilitating the Development and Monitoring of the National Reform Agenda
The initiative is focused on building capacity and improving processes of the Government of Ukraine (GoU) to design and monitor reforms based on RBM approach with consideration of GBA+ and environmental sustainability. To enable this, we developed an IT Tool PROJECTUA. Since the launch of the initiative, we have contributed to the development of hundreds of government’s strategic and planning documents.
Due to the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine, authorities have launched the development of a comprehensive National Recovery Plan for Ukraine. SURGe in cooperation with different stakeholders participates and provides expertise in policy development, planning and monitoring for the Plan.
Quality Assurance in Education
SURGe works with the State Service for Education Quality, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, local school principals and teachers to provide access to quality education and build a safe school environment during the war. SURGe provides psychological and methodological support for teachers on how educators should work during the war. The Project helps educators define learning gaps and compensate learning losses for missed lessons as well as helps school principals ensure a safe school environment in conflict areas. To ensure a quality education for Ukrainian children displaced abroad, SURGe provides support to governments and teachers by creating a special website with a unique database of educational programs to use for teaching Ukrainian children, as well as a Q&A for parents of displaced children.
Criminal Justice
In 2015, we were the first to initiate and develop the probation model for juvenile offenders that combined supervision with support and rehabilitation services. The model was adopted by the Ukrainian government and as a result probation for both juvenile and adult convicts was introduced. Later, we made the use of probation a legitimate alternative to people going to prison. Currently, there are more than 60,000 people on probation while the number of incarcerated people is 46,498 with 35,300 of them sentenced to imprisonment.
In recent years, we’ve focused both on the prison system to introduce a rehabilitation approach there and on probation to enhance the results that were achieved before, and therefore we have introduced the evaluation system of prisons and pre-trial detention facilities performance. We managed to implement the rehabilitation approach to the correction of inmates.
We helped develop, improve and roll out the Unified Register of Convicts and Detainees as a case management system. The Register stores assessments and case plans in the system of all convicts, and enables prompt processing of data for making evidence-based decisions.
We introduced and keep developing online courses for probation and prison staff as well as for prison inmates for their preparation for the release.
Child Protection
Through the support to the child welfare system reform, SURGe has been working to prevent children from entering institutional care and ensure that each child is raised in a family or family-like environment. Since Russia’s war against Ukraine has put the institutionalized children and those from socially disadvantaged families in round-the-clock danger, the Project had to extend its work and provide the Ministry of Social Policy together with the National Social Service Agency with effective mechanisms of safe evacuation, and monitoring of the children’s temporary relocation within Ukraine and abroad.
Here are some examples of how the SURGe is contributing to the protection of life and well-being of Ukrainian children.
CONTACT:
surge@alineainternational.com
CONTACT:
surge@alineainternational.com
Aligned with all UN Sustainable Development Goals
