Kyiv, 5 January 2023 – The Future of Government Awards has named Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov as “Digital Innovator of the Year” in a global competition that champions public sector heroes who are modernizing their governments and driving global digital development and positive change.

“I am honoured to be recognized for this award,” said Fedorov, “but the recognition really belongs to my team at the Ministry and to all Ukrainians that have embraced digital pathways as a way to engage with their local and national government.”

The awards are co-sponsored by the AWS Institute from Amazon Web Services (AWS), a thought leadership and executive education programme to accelerate digital transformation in the public sector; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Apolitical, a global network and learning platform that helps governments and their civil servants work more effectively for people and planet.

Under Fedorov’s direction, his ministry developed the Diia mobile application and online portal (Diia is a word that means “Action” in Ukrainian or an abbreviation of Ukrainian “Derzhava I Ia” – State and Me). Mostly developed in urgency during the pandemic, the portal enables all Ukrainian citizens to engage with their government online, to register a place of residence, apply for a pension, generate a COVID certificate, request housing support, apply for unemployment benefits and much more, all of it online.

Christophoros Politis, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Ukraine, said that when the war started, forcing millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes, UNDP supported the Ministry of Digital Transformation to develop specific services that enable displaced Ukrainians to access humanitarian and other supporting programmes from the safety of their homes. “One of the most prominent results is that people can now apply for IDP status and monetary assistance via the Diia app”, he emphasized.

During the pandemic, Politis said, Diia was a key contributor to minimizing risks and ensuring business continuity within Government and the private sector as people could access public services and administrative support online without going outside and being exposed to the virus. “Now, during wartime, providing services online is even more critical as many Ukrainians are in need to access public services remotely, from safer locations and in many cases from bomb shelters. All this is possible thanks to Diia.”

“The benefits of using open-source software in government range from increasing citizen engagement to making government services more efficient. In the last few years, we’ve also seen open-source save lives in the face of a pandemic and conflict,” said Robyn Scott, Co-Founder and CEO at Apolitical. “In Ukraine, especially, we have seen the superpowers of open-source smartly deployed. Apolitical is proud to recognise the critical leadership of Minister Fedorov and the efforts of his team in developing the Diia online service for millions of Ukrainians. We are particularly impressed with the way the portal was able to adapt its use case to rapidly changing conditions in the country, all the while providing assurance and information for citizens.”

Learn more about Future of Government Awards and this year's winners here.

Media inquiries

UNDP in Ukraine: Yuliia Samus, Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org

Future of Government Awards: Calum Handforth, Adviser, Digitalization and Smart Cities, email: calum.handforth@undp.org