UNDP in Ukraine

Speaking during a high-profile meeting, organised by Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights in Ukraine Programme (a joint EU, UNDP and SIDA project) where international and Ukrainian experts presented their draft recommendations for improving national gender machinery in Ukraine, Ilaria Carnevali, UNDP Assistant Resident Representative and Head of Democratic Governance Unit, stressed that for UNDP it was very important to improve national gender machinery’s efficiency. Gender equality is, indeed, one of the Millennium Development Goals Ukraine has to achieve by 2015.

Larysa Kobelyanska, Coordinator of Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights Programme in Ukraine, said that the meeting had been of a very high significance because at the moment the national gender machinery existed. However, its efficiency is yet to be studied. That is the reason why, after the consultations with government partners at the Programme’s inquiry, international and national experts have conducted a number of surveys. The results of their research will be suggested for the round table discussion. Larysa Kobelyanska emphasized that the recommendations were not final, and that's the reason why the Programme of Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights in Ukraine relied on the discussion rising out of current debate.

With this in mind, it was particularly beneficial to see Olena Bondarenko (Head of sub-committee on international relations and gender policy of Verkhovna Rada), Ilaria Carnevali (UNDP Assistant Resident Representative and Head of Democratic Governance Unit), Kateryna Levchenko (Advisor to the Minister of Interior Affairs of Ukraine), Tamara Melnik (Advisor to the Minister for family, youth and sport of Ukraine), Ella Lamakh (Head of gender department of the Ministry for family, youth and sport of Ukraine), and other senior experts and scientists among the meeting participants.

In her presentation, Dono Abdurazakova, an international expert commissioned by UNDP in Ukraine, explained that the main goal for improving gender equality and women’s condition was to ensure efficient administration and management of gender equality machinery.

Reaching this goal is only possible by implementing gender mainstreaming and gender approaches in management and administration. Gender equality issue should be an integral part of planning and monitoring of different policies and programmes so men and women can benefit from them equally.  
The visiting expert also examined the efficiency of Ukrainian national gender machinery.

Dono Abdurazakova informed that there existed three possible ways to improve the country's gender machinery. 
First, it would be strengthening the Ministry for family, youth and sport of Ukraine as a central executive body responsible for ensuring gender equality.

As an alternative, Dono Abdurazakova suggested making some profound changes within the existing system. An ideal would be to create a specific, high-level institution such as a State Bureau or a Committee for gender equality with a directly subordination to the Prime-Minister or to the President. The existence of a similar institution apart from any other governmental structure would give a clear comprehension of the specificity of gender equality and would draw public attention.

At the same time, she recalled a third option: transferring the functions of national machinery to a Ministry that would be able to make executive decisions and have impact on different branches and within various sectors. The Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Economy could perform this role. However, it's up to the Ukrainian government which management model option to choose, the expert said.

The existing structure of national gender machinery is at a level when most of legislative and executive steps have been already taken but further immediate actions are needed to make the implementation of gender equality as efficient and as practical as possible.

The Interministerial coordination board as well as the system of responsible of gender issue (Deputy Heads of central executive bodies and Deputy Heads of Regional State administrations) have to be strengthened.

The international expert gave her assurances that gender advisors should not work on a voluntary basis. Gender advisors should have an official status. Given that a special ombudsman responsible for gender equality doesn't exist in Ukraine, Dono Abdurazakova proposed strengthening the existing Ombudsman institution, which is responsible for overcoming gender discrimination, according to the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men”.

After analysing the Law of Ukraine “On ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men”, Dono Abdurazakova indicated that the Law in itself was rather 'wide and declarative'. This Law does not envisage any punishment for infringement. It doesn't stipulate any clear and comprehensive system of complaints, responsibility, verification, arbitration or legal protection methods.

Svitlana Ryaboshapka, Head of Department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, presented her Ministry's recommendations based on the results of a study performed on “Organizational and legal elements of national machinery of ensuring gender equality”. This research is a result of collective work of Svitlana Ryaboshapka, Olga Pischulina, Kateryna Levchenko and Tamara Marcenyuk. The results of this research are similar to the conclusions of Dono Abdurazakova.

Svitlana Ryaboshapka informed that the authors paid special attention to the need of introducing some profound changes into gender regulations and supported the idea to create a gender Bureau at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

They also suggested reforming the Ombudsman Office at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It would be more efficient to create specific ombudsmen for different issues (children’s rights, gender equality, etc.) 
Other recommendations included propositions to improve the coordination of gender resources management. Moreover, the authors think that the State programme on ensuring gender equality needs serious improvement. The position of Gender advisors should be strengthened and have more impact on public opinion.

Both presentations generated active discussions. During discussions, scientists, members of parliament, officials and experts offered their views and propositions, comments and recommendations.

All participants had a chance to voice their ideas. They were listened to and were heard, as Larysa Kobelyanska, summing up the meeting results, told the participants that all their constructive proposals would be reflected during the elaboration of final recommendations. They will be presented to the Government during the next Interministerial Board meeting, scheduled for late Semptember. 

For more information, contact Mykola Yabchenko (Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights in Ukraine Programme): +38 067 290 55 01, +38 044 569 40 75, mykola.yabchenko@undp.org.ua.