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projects

Partnering with the "Institute of Analytics and Advocacy", the ToP team started implementation of the project "Accountability and Capacity-building for Customs Oversight and Reform Development". This initiative was launched at the end of 2023 in response to the challenges in front of Ukrainian customs, including the ongoing war and the expected start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The project’s duration is 3 years and is funded by the EU.

The main tasks of the project are focused on improving transparency, accountability and efficiency of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, as well as on recommendations for the modernization of its activities in accordance with EU standards and requirements. It will contribute to strengthening the economic security of Ukraine, which is important in the context of post-war reconstruction.

The project tasks are focused on the four main areas:

• Increasing awareness and competences of non-governmental organizations and anti-corruption watchdogs regarding customs operations, which will allow to better recognize and respond to possible deviations from optimal procedures;
• Implementation of public analytical tools for objective assessment of the effectiveness of customs authorities and the activities of the customs service as a whole;
• Monitoring the progress of legislative and institutional reforms on the path to bring Ukrainian customs closer to EU standards (for example, regular assessment of the effectiveness of the criminalization of smuggling recently introduced by the Parliament, preparation of shadow reports on the assessment of progress of negotiations under chapter 29 regarding the Customs Union, etc.);
• Strengthening dialogue and cooperation between the government, general public and business aimed at effective customs reform and bringing customs operations up to the EU standards.

Within the framework of the project, sub-grants will also be provided to several non-governmental organizations aiming at strengthening capacities and including wider civil society in the monitoring of the customs service operation.

Project objectives:

Established in 2023, the Agency is responsible for implementing reconstruction projects and procuring the respective works needed for the country’s rapid recovery and post-war reconstruction. Given the substantial recovery budget and the complexity of procurement procedures, such activities shall be in the public sector’s and international donors’ spotlight. Thus, the Project enhances governance and accountability in the Agency’s public procurement processes.

The Project aims to achieve:

• Enhanced competitive environment and transparency,
• Prevention of fraud and corruption,
• Identification of weaknesses in procurements,
• Enhanced monitoring of Agency procurements.

Integrated with the Prozorro public e-procurement system, the Procurement Risk Management, Monitoring, and Efficiency Evaluation System will have the following core functions:

• Rapidly identify high-risk procurements by automated checks of the tender data versus predefined risk-criteria,
• Automatic verification of tenders for procedural violations and highlighting such tenders for the Agency’s management team,
• Comprehensive evaluation of procurement results in comparison with average/median procurement metrics,
• Monitoring and evaluating contract execution,
• Generating reports for stakeholders to assess procurement quality.

This Project aligns with the NGO ToP efforts to digitalize public services, fight corruption, and bring efficiency and transparency to public recovery spending. We believe that this Project is vital for fostering a culture of integrity and accountability in public procurement, which is essential for rebuilding and strengthening trust in public institutions.

**The European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) in Ukraine that is a joint EU and Government of Denmark financed programme aimed at supporting Ukraine in its efforts to reduce corruption through the empowerment of citizens, the civil society, businesses and state institutions.

"Technology of Progress" in cooperation with the "Kyiv School of Economics" started implementation of a fundamental research project on the readiness of Ukraine`s construction materials market for the recovery process. Russia`s military invasion has led to an unprecedented scale of destruction in modern Ukrainian history, primarily due to daily missile and artillery attacks. In this context, it is crucial to analyze the current state of Ukraine`s building materials market and its ability to meet the needs of both ongoing and future rebuilding efforts, taking into the account the following priority goals:

• Rebuild better than before, considering key principles of urban planning, human capital development, comfort, and safety;
• Ensure that reconstruction complies with environmental standards at all stages of construction;
• Increase the capacity of Ukraine`s construction industry to meet current needs;
• Enable immediate start of emergency reconstruction.

The project research will include an analysis of the main types of construction materials, key trends, and construction companies. Each construction materials sector segment will be analyzed according to the following structure:

• What was the state of the industry in general (as well as details on specific types of materials) before the full-scale invasion?
• How has the full-scale invasion impacted the construction materials industry?
• What is the extent of the destruction caused by Russian aggression from the perspective of the construction sector?
• What materials will be in the highest demand during the recovery process?
• What is the current demand from construction companies for various types of materials?
• What are the main challenges facing the construction materials industry (or specific types of materials) in the context of recovery?
• What measures should be taken to avoid materials shortages in Ukraine?
• How to take into account not just the restoration of old facilities but the development of a new Ukraine vision with a strong emphasis on ecology and sustainability? Who are the frontrunners in this process? What are the prospects for development?

The research also includes providing recommendations pertaining to the building materials industry as a whole to avoid risks that existing production capacities may prove insufficient during the recovery process. Potential shortages could be addressed through import, which may be less efficient in terms of logistics and cost. Consequently, research will partially cover collaboration needs with governmental bodies to support local construction materials producers and jobs creation.

ToP has teamed up with the NGO Centre for Economic Strategy (CES) and the NGO Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting to implement a large-scale EU-backed project “The Recovery Spending Watchdog”. The Project was launched in June 2023 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.

The Project was launched in the wake of the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The ongoing hostilities have devastated the country and inflicted grave damage on the Ukrainian infrastructure, production, social, residential, and other facilities.

In response, the international community is providing Ukraine with emergency financial support. The recovery of Ukraine promises to be one of the most challenging undertakings which requires an environment of trust among donors, policymakers, and the Ukrainian society based on transparency and accountability. Thus, well-organized and real-time monitoring by the civil society of recovery spending is of paramount importance.

To meet the above challenge the Project team will:

• ensure open access to reconstruction information within the Ukrainian society by creating a special online instrument – the Big Recovery Portal;
• educate BRP users (especially CSOs, journalists, local community, and anti-corruption/ law enforcement representatives) on the BPR functionality to present mechanisms needed for corruption and other wrongdoing reporting;
• monitor the reconstruction spending from publicly available sources; and
• assist the Ukrainian government in making better decisions on funding the recovery by providing regular monitoring reports on reconstruction spending.

ToP is responsible for the software development of the Big Recovery Portal (BRP) which is a central pillar of the Project. BRP will collect holistic data on recovery projects, their lifecycle, and financing and will present this information in a user-friendly and understandable way.

The portal will collect data (reports, complaints, pictures, etc.) from the state, crowdsourced, and NGO sources. It will be integrated with other state-owned and partner project management platforms and data systems (DREAM, damaged.in.ua, Dozorro, opendatabot, etc.) to process and combine all available information about recovery projects. Moreover, BRP plans to provide the possibility for external users to upload community feedback and risk-related data to be taken into account by the state bodies.

BRP will have a BI tool for producing independent analytics - statistics, reconstruction progress, reports, etc., that will provide better access and visibility for all actors (citizens, SMEs, NGOs, journalists, government officials, etc.). As a result, anyone will have an opportunity to monitor the reconstruction process, its timeline, and quality, identify typical problems and challenges facing recovery processes, and assess the efficiency of recovery spending. This will lead to better civil engagement in recovery oversight and whistleblowing. Potential whistleblowers will have better instruments to report wrongdoings. We believe better civil engagement will contribute to more accountable and transparent decision-making by the state agencies.

BRP will also have an automated risk-management system that will calculate risk profiles of reconstruction projects by certain risk indicators and range them by risk levels, which will allow for prioritizing monitoring.

BRP will collect and present info on business opportunities and potential reconstruction tenders for businesses. Among other features, it will maintain a database of suppliers for typical works and highlight areas of poor supply or above-average prices for prospective suppliers. BRP is expected to become an important part of Ukraine’s post-war recovery infrastructure.

Implementation of the “Recovery Spending Watchdog” project goes in line with the values of integrity, sustainability, and efficiency of the RISE coalition, which was created by the leading civil society organizations (including ToP, CES, and IER) to support the recovery of Ukraine.