Non-governmental organizations of Ukraine prepared proposals and step-by-step instructions on reform of state social policy

06.03.2014, Ukraine
Some time ago Caritas Ukraine office hosted a joint session of Coordination and expert council on social policy of in Center of advanced social research of Ministry of Social Policy (MSP) and National academy of sciences (NAS) of Ukraine and Social reforms headquarters. Rostyslav Dzundza, international coordinator of working group “Social dialogue and justice” in Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, also took part in the session. Discussion of a set of complex proposals for reforming of social sphere was on the agenda of this event.

Session participants discussed a set of proposals that foresees concrete steps for Ukrainian government on reforming of social insurance system, social services delivery system, providing local communities with tools of direct city administration, implementation of cost of living calculation system etc.   

Letter with a set of proposals will be addressed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk with signature of organizations who took part in preparation of this document. During a year a range of non-governmental organizations (notably, Ukrainian federation of insurance, ICF “Caritas Ukraine”, All-Ukrainian charitable foundation “The Coalition of HIV-Service Organizations”, All-Ukrainian Alliance of Labour Organizations, «Bureau of social and political development” etc) was elaborating proposals on various fields of reforms and prepared step-by-step instructions on their implementation. Current set of proposals is a kind of generalization for government from activists of civic and philanthropic sectors of Ukraine.

Reform of social services delivery system in Ukraine has been on agenda for a long time, however, yet there have been no complex and step-by-step approaches to solve strategic issues of further social development of the country. Caritas Ukraine actively joined this process in 2012: firstly, we arranged a well-grounded analysis of medical, social and legal fields of activity, afterwards, we got involved in process of changes and improvement of national system of social services delivery to vulnerable population categories.

“Non-governmental organizations not only prepare proposals, but they can take responsibility for their implementation. It is important for us that newly chosen authorities don’t manifest paternalism concerning civic society that was typical for V. Yanukovych regime.

Ukrainian social policy requires fundamental changes. Moreover, it is difficult to name the sphere where such reforms aren’t needed. It is worth mentioning the problem: reforms must be done in various spheres in parallel. It is impossible to reform system of social services without reforming local self-governance and delegation at lower level of not only duties, but also funds,” notes Igor Kaminnyk, Program Coordinator of HIV-service organizations.

Among existing problems in the sphere of social services delivery, first of all, it is worth to mention an underdeveloped legislative basis that regulates range of issues in this sphere. There are also: insufficient quality and efficiency of services; social injustice; low level of services’ target orientation; high administrative expenditures; lack of transparency; actual absence of standards system; imbalance of budget establishments network in sphere of social services delivery and its powers; multilevel hierarchy of budget establishments network; lack of financial support to institutions in sphere of social services delivery; low efficiency of financing mechanism in accordance with finance plan that isn’t related to the results of budget establishment activity in sphere of social services delivery; absence of legal regulation of administration activity in budgetary establishment on management of revenues from entrepreneurial activity that leads to ineffective use of this money; limitations of rights of social services client on choosing the service provider etc.