This reform is aimed at building a modern, digital, service-oriented state. The reform includes the formation of an efficient public administration system that can develop and implement an integrated public policy focused on the people’s needs, sustainable social development and addressing internal and external challenges properly.
The public administration reform is designed to change the approach to three key elements of the executive branch — structures, processes and people. In practice, this means:
A strong democratic state cannot be built without an efficient public administration system. The public administration reform is, therefore, an important precondition for Ukraine’s European integration course. In its turn, the European Union is supporting the reform at the expert, technical and financial levels.
The public administration reform is among the most important tasks for countries with economies in transition. A lot of important changes required for the economic development, investment and job creation across the country depend on the ability of the state to develop and implement efficient public policies.
Modern public administration is also a key element in building trust in government through the provision of affordable, quality public services, openness and accountability of governmental agencies.
According to the global governance performance indicators, Ukraine ranks quite low in terms of competitiveness. This situation can be improved by a number of factors such as reducing the administrative burden of state regulation, improving the quality of administrative services, and ensuring the legality and predictability of administrative acts.
The effective development of state policy by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is conditioned by the existence of a professional, efficient and accountable executive power system. An efficient public administration system is also one of the main prerequisites for democratic governance based on the rule of law principles.
The result of the reform should be a public administration system which ensures the proper implementation of policy decisions and regulatory norms. It should also be transparent, predictable, customer-oriented, focused on sustainable economic growth and promotion of entrepreneurship and investment.
Another area of the reform covers the civil service and human resource management. The CMU and ministries have already started to employ state secretaries — the highest rank officers appointed on a competitive basis: they are responsible for the efficient operation of ministries.
The ministries have also started to build the so called “reform teams” — directorates which consist of highly qualified and competent public specialists who can ensure the implementation of reforms and support a quality policy formation and analysis process in priority areas.
Modern methods of HR management and reforming the remuneration system based on job classification will help transform the state into a competitive and upscale employer. The civil service should be result-oriented rather than process-oriented and have clear performance indicators. In addition, e-governance systems and a clear system of balanced performance indicators with impact analysis will make the civil service more efficient. A transparent and fair remuneration system for public officials will also play an important role in these changes.
The National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service (NAUCS) has the following tasks to build a professional civil service and implement the Public Administration Reform Strategy:
The Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (SCMU), the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the SCMU Public Administration Directorate, NACS, the Reforms Delivery Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, EU4PAR project