ISET-PI researchers Irakli Shalikashvili and Salome Deisadze attended the Data for Sustainable Growth in Kyiv between November 17-18. The conference was organized by KSE (Kyiv School of Economics) and was jointly sponsored by UKaid, USAID, the British Embassy in Kyiv, the Embassy of United States, and the Global Development Network.

Ukraine’s revolution transformed the executive and legislative branches of the government in 2014. Since then, the government of Ukraine has prioritized increasing public sector transparency and accountability through eGovernance reforms, including eProcurement, Open Data, and eServices.

Transparent and open governments require readily available information about government operations. The main issue was access to open data. The conference was useful for many reasons, including the fact that it demonstrated the best practices and cases of using large amounts of data, open data and G2G shared data to enhance evidence-based decision making with a special focus on the public sector, NGOs, and state governance.

The first day of the conference was planned as regular panel sessions and discussions that were devoted to emphasizing the importance of access to open data, with the main focus being placed on data analysis and its application to improve policymaking in the region. Interactive discussions were provided by stakeholders and experts from Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Europe and CIS, specifically from Poland, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.

The second day was planned as a workshop on different practical topics about open data. Specifically, the workshop was conducted on the methods and indicators to identify corruption in public procurement. Nowadays, electronic procurement is a standard approach in many countries. The development of eServices encourages local governments and ministries to regularly publish data that, in turn, build transparency and accountability in public administration and services.