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EU-UNDP Parliamentary Reform Project
Project summary
EU-UNDP Parliamentary Reform Project is being implemented by UNDP and is funded by the European Union.
The project aims to strengthen the functioning of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU), making it a progressively more effective, accountable and transparent institution in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities of legislating, overseeing, and representing, and having a positive influence on the overall process of implementing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Project objectives
The project is an EU-funded initiative strongly connected to UNDP’s Democratic Governance Programme. It comprises of three components.
Component One, #Rada4Reforms, will focus on fostering the parliament’s role in the overall reform process, with a particular emphasis on improving the legislative process and parliamentary oversight, through providing comprehensive expert support to the implementation of the VRU Roadmap for Internal Reform and Capacity Building. Measures will include improving the quality of draft law scrutiny and impact assessments, and enhancing parliamentary monitoring.
Component Two, #RadaPro, will support the professional modernization of the parliamentary Secretariat. This will be achieved through the finalisation and implementation of the Secretariat’s strategic development plan, and comprehensive human resource development, including in Committee Secretariats, in line with broader public administration reform (PAR) and the law "On the Civil Service."
Component Three, #Transparent&Service-OrientedRada, by combining the use of new technologies for communications with civic education and participation, will build stronger transparency and accountability links between parliament and citizens, with a special focus on increasing the public’s trust in the Ukrainian Parliament.
Expected Results
- The legislative process is improved, including via the introduction of an end-to-end legislative approach through pre- and post-legislative scrutiny, upgrading legislative drafting requirement guidelines, revising guidelines and analytical tools, strategic planning, and the prioritization of the legislative process – with a specific focus on AA-related legislation.
- Parliamentary oversight is strengthened, new practices of cooperation and coordination between the legislative and executive branches are facilitated.
- New HRM practices in the parliamentary secretariat, including the secretariats of the parliamentary committees, are introduced. This will include effective recruitment planning and the attraction of candidates through a merit-based and transparent selection procedure, as well as the introduction of a coherent performance appraisal system linked to training and remuneration policy, etc. Relevant actions will be taken to improve the transparency and the efficiency of HR policy with regard to MPs’ assistants.
- The organizational structure of the VRU Secretariat is improved to strengthen capacity in legislative scrutiny, communications, civic education, oversight, management (e.g. internal processes within the VRU Secretariat, budgeting, etc.) and the performance of the parliamentary Secretariat, including parliamentary committees, as part of the development of the system of appraisal of staff.
- An e-Parliament Strategy is implemented, including various initiatives such as the paperless office and other green practices, a digital legislative process, registration and voting procedures for MPs, etc.
- The overall framework of parliamentary communications and civic education is determined through the implementation of a Communication Strategy based on annual action plans, including internal (within Parliament) and external (with key EU and Ukrainian stakeholders) strategic communications.