The Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine actively supports the country's European integration course by helping to reform key institutions, harmonise legislation with EU standards and strengthen government capacity.
Deepening economic integration with the EU
An important area is supporting Ukraine's integration into the EU's single market. As part of the TIPSTER project, with support from the German government and GIZ, we worked on reforming intellectual property and technical regulation, developing exports and improving the capacity of government officials. We developed a draft new Export Strategy for Ukraine until 2030, prepared documents to move closer to the ACAA Agreement, organised trade missions to EU countries and internships for civil servants in Brussels.
Ukraine in the GEM global entrepreneurship study
For the first time in history, Ukraine fully participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study as part of the Inclusive Economy project implemented under the Good Governance Fund with funding from UK International Development (implemented by Abt Global and the Foundation for Support of Reforms in Ukraine). The results were presented at a global forum in Bilbao alongside data from 50 other countries. This allowed Ukraine's entrepreneurial experience to be integrated into a global context.
Institutional support for reforms and European integration
In 2015-2019, we contributed to the creation of the Reforms Delivery Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the National Reform Council Support Office, and Reform Support Teams (RSTs), which the EU described as vital for the government. Thanks to these teams, Ukraine rose in the Doing Business rankings, introduced transparent VAT refunds, launched large-scale privatisation, and created institutions such as the Investment Promotion Office (now UkraineInvest), the Export Promotion Office (now the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office) and an anti-corruption infrastructure.
We recruited over 150 experts to the civil service and helped implement over 30 reforms in governance, finance, the economy and infrastructure.
Raising awareness of European integration opportunities
In 2018, we implemented a large-scale communication campaign ‘The Power of Opportunities’ aimed at increasing public support for reforms and European integration in Ukraine. The project covered the sectors of education, science, innovation, business and culture, informing citizens about EU programmes available to Ukrainians, in particular Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Creative Europe, COSME, EU4Business. Information materials were disseminated through television, print media, blogs, infographics, videos and social networks.
Digital tools for monitoring the implementation of the Association Agreement
In the same year, the Foundation contributed to the development of a modular information and analytical system for the Government Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. The system included:
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“Pulse of the Agreement” — a tool for monitoring the implementation of commitments under the Association Agreement
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a repository of documents
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an e-learning tool
These tools made it possible to track progress in the implementation of economic and sectoral policies provided for in the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.
Our activities are aimed at ensuring that Ukraine not only formally moves closer to the EU, but also effectively integrates European standards into the daily work of state institutions, business and society.