Communication between

the Government and the Public in Ukraine

Yaryna Zhurba

Problem

Communication between

the Government and the Public in Ukraine

Yaryna Zhurba, Victor Andrusiv

Communication between

the Government and the Public in Ukraine

Policy brief

Goal

Baseline conditions and problem setting .......................................................................... 3

Outline of the current situation ............................................................................................. 4

Problem of low efficiency of government communication: causes and

effects ................................................................................................................................................ 6

Solution (30 recommendations + 3 conditions) ............................................................. 8

Structure of the full policy paper ....................................................................................... 17

About the research ................................................................................................................... 18

2

Baseline conditions and problem setting

Development of Ukrainian state is a common goal of the authorities and the public. It

shall be reached in partnership based on prevailing trust.

Current relations between the government and the public are characterized by

alienation and mutual distrust. Such coexistence is neither efficient, nor safe.

Simultaneous uncoordinated efforts do not lead to success: efforts of public must

create synergy with those of government. Existing relations framework is a result of both government’s and public’s weaknesses. However, only the government is able to launch the process of overcoming alienation

and distrust. It does not mean that government shall instantly become perfect and then

public shall trust it. It means that government and public, being aware of their

weaknesses, shall be able to do their best to reach the common goal, therewith

gradually developing and improving.

Development of partnership relations depends primarily on communication between

the government and the public. Efficient communication is extremely important both

to improve the country and to resist the aggressor. Therefore, there is a need to

examine the issue in order to define actual situation as regards communication

between the government and the public, identify problems, their reasons and possible

solutions.

The situation was examined in three ways: collection of data available to the public,

request for public information, which is not publically available, and special individual interviews. The aim WAS NOT to offer a ideal model of government communication. Firstly, considering that communication is dynamic in nature, there is no sense to

search a static model. Efficient communication involves constant development.

Secondly, the policy paper was designed as application-oriented, i.e. should have

biggest possible practical effect. Therefore, it’s necessary to start out from the doable and not from the ideal.

Communication between the government and the public is a wide multi-aspect sphere

involving numerous problems. Therefore, the scope of the research in this large cluster

was limited to search of answer to the question:

What changes shall be done in the government

communication to launch development of partnership

between the government and the public?

It is obvious that something is wrong with government communication and lots of

people keep point it out. Consequences of communication problems are also pretty

obvious.

3

However, as to their reasons, there is a great risk to make a mistake. Anyway, the

reasons identified as a result of fundamental study appeared to be substantially

different from those assumed at the beginning of the research. (erein the term government refers not only to the Cabinet of Ministers . )t covers policy-making executive authorities, i.e. those to carry out reforms. Theoretically, it

should be the Cabinet of Ministers and Ministries. However, considering that the

government is not reformed yet, the scope of the study covered all the central executive authorities. Thus, the government herein refers to the Cabinet of Ministers, Ministries and other central executive authorities.

Outline of the current situation

The situation as regards communication between the government and the public has

the following main features:

The acting government cares about communication with the public and makes efforts

to improve it. From the outside this efforts are almost invisible. They are focused on

the tactical aspects: primarily on tools, partly on coordination. If the government communicates in the same manner as it does now, seeking to do everything faster, higher, stronger , it would not help to increase trust and develop partnership with the public. There is a need of changes at conceptual, strategic and institutional levels;

As regards the conceptual level, there is certain misunderstanding and equivocations.

The government does not see clear relation between communication and decision-

making procedure. As a result, there are lots of hidden problems, which are not

obvious, however crucial in terms of communication: decisions are not made on the

basis of policy analysis, stakeholders are not engaged in policy process, procedures are

often breached. Decision-making process actually is closed. The government says communication but in most cases it means provision of information . The European Commission Directorate-General of Communication

defines its mission as follows: Listen. Advise. Engage. )f communication department of Ukrainian government declared their mission in the same concise manner, at the moment it would be only )nform. Distinction between stakeholder participation and grassroots participation is not clear for the government. )t uses in all cases a term public participation , having on mind something closer to grassroots participation ;

4

Strategic planning of communication is not currently applied. No governmental

document that could be called a full-featured communication strategy was found.

Communication as regards the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement was examined as a

strategic case. It confirmed that strategic planning is not applied and revealed negative

effects of such an approach;

The government speaks in a form or language people cannot understand.

Communication of regulations/draft regulations instead of comprehensive policy is

one of the aspects of the issue;

Frequent inconsistency of words of the Prime Minister and other government officials

with their further actions brings to nothing all the efforts to improve communication

and contradict development of partnership between the government and the public;

There is a lot of dead weight in the government communication, i.e. processes, which bring no result while consuming considerable resources. For example, dozens of

governmental uncompetitive print media and special enterprises related therewith,

other state-owned mass-media. Resource issues are rather resulting from inefficient

resource management than from unavailability thereof;

Communication is considered rather as a segmental function that is a responsibility

solely of communication units of the government. Chief communication manager is a

head of department and doesn't have tools for pass-through impact. There are few

examples of policy-makers, who has communication as within the main priorities and

carry out this function adequately. Also there is a problem of turning government

communication into personal political PR;

Practices substantially better than those of general government communication are

already appeared. The Ministry of Education applied a range of best practices, such as:

granting public access to e-accounting through the web-site, involving capacities of the public to accomplish the Ministry’s functions, creating special platforms for discussion

of higher education reform etc. Some other breakthrough practices were launched by

other Ministries;

Potential of communication systematic improvement is substantially limited due to the

lack of the reform of the government. The most substantial limitations are related to

existing decision-making procedure, internal communication and public service.

Only the government is able to launch development of partnership between the

government and the public. However, success of the process depends also on other

civil society actors. Governmental cooperation with business and third sector was

examined. Representatives of these three groups have quite different positions as

regards communication problems (For more details see summary of interviews in chapter 4 Current situation. Perception by different actors of the full policy paper.

As regards country development objectives, each group (the government, business,

the third sector) has its own constructive and destructive players.

5

There are government members, which are committed to work towards necessary

changes and will make huge efforts to get them. However, there are also those, who

due to personal narrow-mindedness, corrupt interests or other reasons, do not launch,

hamper or defile reforms.

There is a business seeking for fair and clear rules, associates its own development

with society improvements and is ready to provide financial support of changes. At the

same time, there is a business, which prefers distorting laws according to own

commercial interests, utilizing short-term corruption benefits and exhausting civil

society through inequality.

Likewise, there are third sector organizations, initiatives and volunteers, which show

passion and professionalism in dealing with challenges. However, there is a

destructive part, which deals with different issues without relevant knowledge, shows

groundless criticism, addresses or rebroadcasts the third Maidan theme, recourses to radical methods.

The paradox of the current situation is that each group sees primarily the destructive

component of other and judging by it gets an idea of what the relevant group is in

general. Thus, constructive elements of the government, business and the third sector

lack cooperation. Their efforts create no synergy, consequently, overall efficiency of

such efforts is low.

Problem of low efficiency of government

communication: causes and effects

Lots of processes shall be re-built in Ukraine.

Government communication is one of them. Lack of communication policy as relates,

e.g. internally displaced people, decentralization or other issues, for which the

government is broadly criticized, are not specific problems. These are numerous

manifestations of the same problem — low efficiency of communication between the

government and the public.

It is the low efficiency to be acknowledged and not the absence of communication as a

systematic process. Indeed, the system, which creates (should create) government

communication exists. It comprises hundreds public officials, special units, plans,

documents, websites, magazines, TV programs, round tables, press-releases, dozens of

state-owned enterprises and millions of UAH and other elements to make it function) .

In other words, every day this massive institutional system carries out huge number of

various processes, which don't bring to necessary results.

6

Eff

ect

s

Th

e p

rob

lem

Low efficiency of communication between the government and the public

Ca

use

s

Lack of understanding of the government and

its policy: responsibilities, state of things,

cause-and-effect relations, prospects etc.

Low capacity of anti-crisis

management

Lack of trust to the government

Reforms meet no active support. The public

shows internal resistance to reforms,

opposition or indifference thereto

Low quality of governmental

consultation services.

Untapped possibilities

Strong belief that problems arise due to the

government and not due to objective

circumstances. Tension, inclination to protests

Low degree of synergy between

the gov’s and the public’s efforts.

Wasted capacities

Non-participation in state

development, apathy,

demotivation, alienation

Confrontation between authorities

and the public. Involvement of the

latter could take destructive forms

Low resistance of the public to

information war, manipulations

Inappropriate governmental

decision-making process

Lack of political

culture Lack of strategy

Low proficiency/ “dead weight”

in processes and resources

Decisions are not made on the

basis of policy analysis

Stakeholders are not engaged in

policy process

Draft decisions are published in

rare cases

Procedures are often breached

Bureaucratic absentee reconcilement

and other problems related to

internal com-tion for decision-making

Weak understanding of importance

of public opinion. Imperious attitude

to citizens, interest groups prevails

(while the opposite is declared)

Incompatibility of words and

actions, PR of politicians instead of

communication of the institution

Engagement and dialogue are

simulated. Wilfulness in decision-

making. Lack of openness

Inertia of biased mistrust in the

government as a predominant

social trend

There are no

communication goals.

Communication is

reactive and not result-

oriented. A whole is

substituted by a part

(communication is

substituted by provision

of information)

System planning is not

applied

Government is unable to

get over clear messages

The government produces formal

(weak and invalid) papers as regards

policy analysis and com-tion

Institutional limitations: obsolete

internal communication, lack of

institutional memory etc

Low average performance of public

officials responsible for com-tion

and respective low quality of results

Spending huge amounts on

inefficient tools that beside this

distorts market (media market for

instance)

Solution

The task was to define, what changes shall be done in the government communication

to launch development of partnership between the government and the public?

Solution algorithm comprises 30 recommendations and 3 conditions. The majority of

recommendations are addressed to the government, however not all of them. All the

recommendations are aimed to eliminate the problem or mitigate reasons thereof.

Efficiency of implementation of the recommendations depends on three conditions. If

they will be fulfilled, implementation of recommendations will produce the best

results. These three conditions are the following:

1. To understand where the point of launching systematic process is Answer to the question Where governmental decisions come from? is crucially important.

If the government makes a decision in a closed manner based on unclear motivation

and reasons, violating procedures, and then inform public about such a decision, there

are low chances to improve communication through some other efforts. Such attitude

of the government shows disrespect to all other parties: they need no understanding of

what happens, can't participate really, the government does not care about their

interests. They have only to accept what is approved by government or that

government has approved nothing.

Currently that is the way the government makes decisions. Furthermore, considering

inconsistency between words and actions of some officials, the public may have all the

reasons to conclude that the government takes it for a fool. So what partnership we are

talking about?

To improve communication, decisions shall be legitimate for the public. If a decision appears to be taken due to lack of competence, corruption interest, it seems to be hit-

or-miss , someone’s whim or something like this, such a decision is weakly legitimate.

The decisions shall be made in the open manner, based on policy analysis and

consultations with stakeholders.

It is worth mentioning a wide belief existing in the government that the public does

not care about contents of the government decisions, not to mention the decision-making process. )t’s rather true, however not relevant to our subject. The essence of

communication is not in pop-informing (however does not exclude it). Communication

involves interaction with political stakeholders, opinion-makers, active civil society

and all those, who can participate in country development and influence position of

the others. It may be a small part of the public, however it will be a motive power. And

this part shall have possibility to understand where the governmental decisions come

from.

8

To sum up, the point to launch systematic process of development of partnership

between the government and the public is a new approach to governmental decision-

making. Bases of this approach are outlined in the recommendations # 9, 10, 11, 13,

14, 16, 17.

2. To change relationship paradigm at the upper level, where direct contacts are possible

Currently the subjunctive lines lay as follows:

The government

Business

The third sector

In fact, it is more reasonable to have only one distinction as follows:

Constructive participants

of the government

of business

of the third sector

work towards changes, strengthening rule of

law / are professionals / resist to corruption

/ apply strategic planning / long-term

development-oriented

Destructive participants

of the government

of business

of the third sector

hamper or defile reforms / show non-

professionalism / feed corruption and other

weaknesses of the system / short-term

interest-oriented / aggravate confrontation

Even to implement recommendations provided herein synergy of effort is

indispensable. Alone constructive government members can hardly meet the

challenges related to launching the country development.

3. To gain political will to reform the government The first condition is To understand where the point of launching systematic process is . )t would be cool to add there ...and to launch it . (owever, there is a nuance. Necessary changes are often appears to be elements of government reform or face

barriers, which shall be eliminated thereby. It concerns not only communication.

Situation with sectoral reforms is the similar. Government reform is a kind of starting point for changes. 9

However, the reform is still not commenced. There is no good reason for this since the

reform was developed by Strategic Advisory Group on Public Administration Reform

already in summer 2014. The issue is about approval thereof, i.e. about personal

decisions. According to existing distribution of powers and decision of the National

Council of Reforms, the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Vice-Prime Minister

the Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal

Services of Ukraine and, of course, the Prime-Minister are responsible for public

administration reforming.

The failure to carry out the reform affects mainly the members of the government, who

are committed to changes most of all. They prefer not to disclose the problem, caring

about image of the government. Such an approach deserves respect, especially,

regarding that the above-mentioned members will be to respond for all the failures

made.

This approach would be reasonable if the reform were just about to start. However, if

political will is to conserve the current situation and simulate changes through

populist decisions like cutting salaries of public officials or reckless reduction of their

jobs without reengineering governmental functions and processes, it will be better to

point out all the above now, than later, when it may be too late. The process of the

country development will not be launched properly without government reform. Therefore, currently the main priority for constructive participants of the government, business and the third sector is to consolidate their efforts to make the real government reform launched. The deadlock in this starting point shall be broken.

The absence of above-listed conditions do not provide for delaying implementation of

recommendations that may be already implemented. It is necessary to implement

every recommendation as fast as possible, at the same time working towards fulfilling

the above-stated requirements. Fulfilment of the requirements will influence efficiency

both of separate recommendations and of all them as a whole.

10

Recommendations

Causes of the problem Peculiarities

of implementation *

Low

proficiency / dead weight in processes

and resources

Inventory check and audit of efficiency of all communication functions and resources of the government shall be

carried out. As a result, functions and resources shall be grouped into three categories: 1) those that are dead

weight and shall be eliminated; 2) those that may be outsourced; 3) those that shall remain within the competence

of/ be managed by the government. This task shall be assigned to a small team comprising government and non-

government experts in management, communication, policy analysis etc. Such a team may be established by the

Department of Information and Public Communication of the Cabinet of Ministers Secretariat.

Q

The government shall widely practice outsourcing of services related to all the functions, which allow it. This is a

key tool to ensure efficiency and modernization of the government. Within the scope of this study, these are

primarily some functions relating to policy analysis, information and communication technologies, monitoring

(including media monitoring).

M

Synergy of financing model shall be put in place. As long as Ukraine is in war, increased costs saving may be

achieved in terms of outsourcing through using resources of Ukrainian civil society and international partners to

pay for services needed by the government. Such a model allow the government to contract a service with a winner

of tender and cover a small part of its cost, while the rest is covered by donors (in wide sense it may be a special

fund accumulating money from different sources or contribution from international partners, Ukrainian business

or even individuals). )n other words, this recommendation may be described by words of one respondent, who said, The government shall allow helping it . Q

Everyday briefings, similar to those related to the ATO, shall be held by government representative to communicate

progress in reforms, i.e. actual situation, daily progress, existing barriers, necessary assistance etc. Q

*

Implementation and

effect of recom-tion

are quick

Recommendation may be

implemented quickly,

however its effect will be

perceivable with time

Long time is needed to implement

recommendation (more than half a

year)

Implementation of

recommendation is a

continuous process

С L M Q

11

Continuous and extensive work shall be carried out towards introducing e-government in Ukraine using synergy

of financing model to the maximum extent. Introduction of e-government on the systematic basis requires

substantial expenses, which the government currently cannot cover by the budget means. However, the far more

important thing that the government cannot do is to delay e-government introduction or introduce it in

factionary random manner.

C

Strategic

planning of

com-tion is not

applied

Complex strategy of communication as regards the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement shall be developed. It shall

define objectives and messages to be systematically delivered by the government officials responsible for

implementation, tools, resources, efficiency monitoring system etc. The best experts representing government

communication, business and European partners shall be engaged in development of the strategy. This strategy

shall become a benchmark for the further government communication strategies.

Not only governmental resources, but also capacities of various other civil society actors shall be used to

implement the strategy.

M

By analogy to the foregoing recommendation, communication strategies of at least two field policies shall be

developed. It is necessary to focus on reforms, implementation of which needs the public support most of all. For

example, it may be decentralization and health sector reform. M

Real-life strategical planning of communication shall be constantly practiced by the Cabinet of Ministers and

Ministries. This practice shall constantly improve through training, best foreign practices benchmarking,

efficiency audit, experiments etc. L

Decisions are

not made on

the basis of

policy analysis

Stakeholders

are not

involved in

policy process

Policy analysis shall be set out as a pre-condition for decision-making. It shall involve analysis of a problem,

impact assessment, stakeholders’ analysis, modeling reasonable policy alternative, cost-benefit analysis etc. It is

about real policy analysis and not about drawing up formal documents. To make it real, it is necessary to begin

with pilot to outsource the analytics in few Ministries, and then to extend such practice on whole the government

(see recommendation # 2).

M

Stakeholders shall be proactively engaged at all the stages, starting from definition of governmental policy

agenda. Participation mechanisms shall be developed. First of all, it involves public consultations with

stakeholders. Furthermore, mechanisms of initiating draft decisions, receiving feedback on policy implementation etc. shall exist. Draft Law of Ukraine On Public Consultations shall be drawn up and filed to the

Parliament.

M

12

The

government

produces

formal (weak

and invalid)

papers as

regards policy

analysis and

com-tion

Draft decisions

of the

government

are published

in rare cases

Engagement

and dialogue

are simulated.

Wilfulness in

decision-

making

The function of government communication shall be transformed from applicative and segmental component to

indispensable element of policy-making. Today, communication begins when governmental decision or draft

decision is already exists and relevant department must inform the public thereon. However, communication

shall appear in political part of a body once the policy issue processing is started. The above-mentioned function

is pass-through in nature. It shall belong to the competence of both communication experts and policy-makers

and analysts.

M

Provision on communication plans to draft decisions, contained in the Cabinet of Ministers' Rules of Procedure,

shall be eliminated. Practice of communicating draft decisions shall be changed to practice of communicating of

policy. Training as regards communication support of state policy shall be arranged (not only for communication

experts, but also for policy-makers). Instrumental guidelines for strategic and operative planning of

communication shall be developed.

Q

New instruments of white papers and green papers or other consultation documents shall be introduced in the government to ensure discussion of policy issues and possible solutions.

Governmental policy decisions shall be accompanied by description of its path. In particular, it shall clarify what

problem a decision addresses, who were consulted, what alternatives were proposed and for what reasons the

decision were made, whether implementation of decision is economically feasible etc. In other words, it shall

answer the following question: Where a governmental decision came from?

Q

A section within the governmental portal shall be created to publish all governmental draft decisions, by analogy

to draft laws on the Parliament web-site. Compulsory publication of draft decisions on the portal shall be set out in the Law On Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers’ of Ukraine Rules of Procedure. Q

Possibilities for improving grassroots participation shall be created through on-line petition tool, public hearings,

reform supporting campaigns involving active participation of citizens and other means. Phenomena of stakeholder participation and grassroots participation shall be distinguished. Both they relate

to civil society, but have different value for public policy. Stakeholder engagement is required to make reasonable

and legitimate decisions. It is one of the basic elements of good governance. As to the grassroots participation , it

primarily involves civil education, i.e. responsibility, initiativity and solidarity of citizens. Little citizens do not build big states c . Grassroots participation will also promote stakeholder formation. Therewith, the more real (not simulated) possibilities for citizens participation the government creates, the more public capacities it turns

into constructive direction.

C

Institutional

limitations:

obsolete internal

communication,

lack of

institutional

memory in the

government etc.

Bureaucratic

absentee

reconcilement

and other

problems

related to

internal

communication

for decision-

making

Absentee reconcilement procedure for draft decision agreement by all the interested parties shall be eliminated. Governmental committees shall become the main platform to agree governmental draft decisions. Activities of governmental committees shall be set out in the Law On Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine . Q

Internal e-communication system shall be created for development of draft decisions. It shall create possibilities

for horizontal communication, where all the government members and other parties participating in elaboration

of a draft decision may see proposals of others, discuss and agree them in electronic format (currently only

originator of a project may see full lay-out of comments, i.e. agreement is carried out through paper documents

re-sending).

Q

Positions of Ministry Secretary and Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers (instead of existing position of Ministry

of the Cabinet of Ministers) shall be introduced. Officers holding the aforesaid positions shall be public officials,

but not politicians. Government crews change, but State Secretaries remain. It is an essential element of keeping

institutional memory. One of the main functions of State Secretaries shall be communication management, which

currently is not a centralized pass-through process, but a segmental function of separate departments.

L

Low average

performance of

public officials

responsible for

com-tion and

respective low

quality results

of their work

Comprehensive reform of public service shall be carried out and result in changing procedure of public service

officers selection, motivation system, substantial increase of salaries to a level, which will allow the public service

to employ competitive specialists. L

Systematic training, knowledge-sharing and other means of professional development shall be accessible to

specialists responsible for government communication. Periodical external evaluation of the government

communication specialists’ performance shall be carried out. L

Jobs responsible for communication functions, which may be outsourced, shall be cancelled. E.g., media-

monitoring function. Q

14

Spending huge

amounts on

inefficient tools

Everything that resulting from inventory check and audit of communication resources efficiency appears to be a dead weight see recommendation #1) shall be eliminated. At least, the phenomena of state-owned TV and

radio media shall cease to exist. A part of them shall be transformed into social broadcasters (the process is

already initiated), while other part shall be sold (privatized) or liquidated.

As regards print media, only one (instead of existing four) official media is needed to publish laws and

regulations. The sole print media to remain is Ofitsiynyi Visnyk Ukrayiny (Official Gazette of Ukraine), which

publishes laws and regulation to the maximum extend, while the rest replicate fragments thereof. All other print

media and public enterprises, which manage them, shall be sold or liquidated. As a result of privatization only the

media that are really requested by public will continue to exist. Operation in market conditions will promote

modernization thereof. Released funds shall be invested into e-government.

Q

Innovative and low-cost communication channels, engineering instruments and programs (social networks,

google instruments, cloud technologies, visual tools etc.) shall be used to the maximum extent. Special e-systems/

software shall not be developed if not reasonably needed. C

Preference to

keep processes

closed

Maximum possible volume of public information shall be disclosed on the websites. This volume may not be

lower than those prescribed by law. In all the relevant cases information shall be published in an open format (i.e.

available for downloading and computer processing). Trainings as regards open data shall be arranged for

responsible officers.

M

The Ministry of Education Open accounts practice, i.e. practice to publish the Ministry’s accounting data on the website, shall be extended to all the government. It would be really strong demonstration of difference between

the acting government and its predecessors, as well as of commitment to ensure openness and establish

partnership with the public.

Q

Multiplication of various user-unfriendly official websites shall be stopped; opposite direction shall be taken —

towards integration of web resources. Single web-portal gov.ua shall be created by analogy to gov.uk. The overall

aim shall be to create unified well-known user-oriented resource, which allows citizens to receive governmental

administrative services, get an idea of what the government is, what policy it promotes in one or another sector

etc. Such a portal will become an important step towards e-government and will allow for substantial reduction

of web recourses costs.

L

Goal-oriented work towards changing the language of communication from officialese to normal something similar to Norwegian government Plain Language Project) shall commence. Such work shall involve training,

participation of specialists, introduction of new document formats, wide use of presentations, visual means etc. L

15

Problems in communication between the government and the public arising of lack of political culture can be hardly eliminated by some direct

reactive measures. They also cannot be eliminated at once. It is a gradual process, which depends on numerous factors. Implementation of the above-

mentioned recommendations may indirectly promote improvement of political communication culture. Although solutions that will eliminate the

above reasons fully do not exist, it appears possible to take actions which will have partial effect.

The following recommendations are addressed to non-governmental civic society actors.

Lack of

political

culture

Public shall constantly monitor the governmental decision-making process in terms of compliance thereof with

established procedure. Compliance with procedure is a goal in itself. C

Best practices and behaviours of the government showing political ethics shall be disseminated. There is no more bad government , it is different. There are already government members, who bring political activity on a brand new level. Their examples shall not be ignored by the public. They shall be made well-known to become a

benchmark for all the government.

C

Citizens shall focus more attention, efforts and energy on the government activities and join them. Reforms face

internal resistance of the system, which without active support of media, NGOs, opinion-makers may become a

deadlock.

As regards inaction or undue action of the government, it also worth attention. However, measure of practicable

and not of perfect shall be used while evaluating them. Groundless criticism is inadmissible. If used, criticism

shall be well-grounded and clearly addressed to action/inaction of specific officials and not to the government as

an institution.

C

16

Structure of the full policy paper

1. About the research

2. Task and methodology

3. Current situation. Objective data

3.1. General outline of the situation

3.2. Communication planning

3.2.1. Strategic planning level

3.2.2. Case of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement

3.2.3. Analysis of communication plans

3.3. Communication in the policy-making process

3.4. Language and formats of communication

3.5. Institutional aspect

3.5.1. System of communication structural units

3.5.2. Limits of space for communication improvement due to unreformed

government

3.5.3. Comparative data on remuneration paid to communication specialists in

government and generally in labour market

3.6. Analysis of selected communication tools and resources

3.6.1. Overview of governmental websites

3.6.2. Summary of data on print media

4. Current situation. Perception by different actors (summary of interviews)

4.1. Key communication problems

4.2. Participation in the policy-making process

4.3. Providing information about government activities

4.4. Interactions

4.4.1. Government — Business

4.4.2. The Third Sector — Government

4.4.3. Business — the Third Sector

4.5. Case of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement communication

5. Problem of low efficiency of government communication: causes and effects

6. Action plan to improve communication and launch development of

partnership between the government and the public

7. Useful links

GO TO FULL POLICY PAPER →

17

About the research

The research on communication between the government and the public was carries out by

the “21th of November” Analytic Platform fully on volunteer basis.

The research was carried out in February-June 2015.

Results of the research are presented in two documents: policy paper with detailed outline of

data analysis and its brief, which resumes the full document with the focus on

recommendations. Both documents may be freely disseminated.

Authors would like to express their appreciation to experts, who devoted their time to

interviews carried out within the framework of the research; to the Cabinet of Ministers

Secretariat and 72 central executive bodies, who responded into requests for public

information; to “Robota International” Company, which provided data as regards market level

of remuneration of communication specialists.

Special thanks are given to Roman Kobets for his help in development of analysis

methodology, Roman Lampeka for cartoons, Anna Saliy for the help in text editing, Vitaliy

Sharlay for the contribution in development of the subject of the research and help in

interviewing and data collection and Viktor Tymoshchuk for peer-review.

Also big thanks to the World Bank Country Office in Ukraine for the English translation of the

policy paper and policy brief.

The hard copies of the policy paper are published by Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre in the

framework of the project on raising communications standards of Ukrainian public

authorities Gov.Comms.Ua.

We hope that results of the research will facilitate discussions and efforts for launching

development of partnership between the government and the public.

Ukraine Crisis Media Center

uacrisis.org

press@uacrisis.org

+38 050 157 81 59, +38 097 41 22 622

Ukrainian house, European Square

2 Khreshchatyk Street, Kyiv, 01001, Ukraine

“21th of November” Analytic Platform

analytic.org.ua

21November@analytic.org.ua

+38 093 333 21 11

63-D Kyrylivska Str., Kyiv 04080