The project “Development of the Applications for the Smartphones and Tablets with the Information about Ivano-Frankivsk Municipality, Its Executive Authorities and Their Administrative Services” aimed at promoting innovation for improving the quality of the administrative service provision and combating corruption was launched by Ivano-Frankivsk municipality under UNDP support.
Nowadays, the number of cell phone users has been dramatically increasing in the world. In addition, the introduction of the smartphones with their wide scope of functions available due to different applications (apps) has made daily lives of citizens much more convenient. Ukrainian society is not an exception. Today 7 out of 10 sold devices for mobile communication in Ukraine are smartphones. This market is constantly growing: in the first quarter 2013, the growth rate was 63% which led to the market volume of 2.1 billion UAH, according to TimeUA. So, why not to use this technological opportunity by developing and promoting e-apps to tackle the challenges in the traditional governmental system of public service provision?
The ultimate goal of the new project launched in May 2013 by Ivano-Frankivsk municipality is to promote citizen-centric public service provision, to raise accessibility and transparency of the administrative services provided by the city authorities and to strengthen their anti-corruption efforts.
The project is initiated and implemented by the Department of Economic and Integration Development of the executive committee of Ivano-Frankivsk city council which has partnered with UNDP Ukraine since 2004 and has jointly implemented over 100 projects and initiatives aimed at promotion of the community-based local development and strengthening the local democracy and participatory decision-making.
“Ivano-Frankivsk municipality is committed to transparency, openness and accountability to its citizens. We have already created the web-site to make the information about the administrative services more transparent and accessible to our citizens. Within this new UNDP-supported initiative, we aim to test another new way to engage with the citizens in developing new policies or assessing the impact of the existing ones – through the mobile apps integrated into the current system of e-documents flow of the municipality” – says Bogdan Bilyk, head of the department.
Total project cost is UAH 148’100 ($18’203) equally shared by the Ivano-Frankivsk municipality and the UNDP Regional Anti Corruption Project. The project covers the issues of capacity development for anti corruption, supporting the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), raising awareness on corruption and promoting innovation for transparency and accountability of the public sector, covering Eastern Europe and the CIS. It is managed by the UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre and aims at fighting against corruption in the countries of the region. Quality assurance and advisory support is rendered through the EU and UNDP project “Smart Practices for Oversight by Non-State Actors on Administrative Service Provision” (Ukraine).
The electronic application for the smartphones and tablets will be developed based on the operational systems IOS and Android with the information about: the city; its executive authorities; communal enterprises; educational institutions; sports institutions; heath care institutions; institutions for culture and leisure; city bus routes; hotels, restaurants; tourism; weather; etc. When reviewing the information about some institutions, there will be an option to call to this institution or enterprise or leave citizen’s feedback about its activities. Apps will be published on AppStore and Google Play. The municipality will ensure integration of the apps with its current system of the e-documents flow and will appoint responsible officials of the sectoral departments to monitor follow up actions to the citizens’ e-petitions in accordance with the current legislation.
Thus, the project proposes the innovative technical solution for the citizens to report about the cases of corruption they might have faced in process of interaction with the municipal authorities. We expect that the project will enable easy acces of citizens and visitors of Ivano-Frankivsk municipality to the information about the city, its authorities and institutions as well as the public services it provides, and making the municipality with its structural division and communal institutions more transparent and open to citizens and visitors.
For more information, please contact Olena Ursu, Project Manager, at (044) 584-34-75 or via e-mail olena.ursu@undp.org
