Ukraine bilateral mapping

Following the start of tensions and open conflict in eastern regions of Ukraine, security sector reform (SSR) has been given prominent attention by development partners. The new Ukrainian Government has highlighted justice and security sector reform as a top priority of the overall Government reform agenda. Since the beginning of 2014 there has been an evident increase in the size and number of development partner support programmes within the security and justice sectors.

Sweden is currently preparing a needs assessment of the Ukrainian security sector in order to inform its deliberations regarding potential support, and has mandated ISSAT to provide an initial desk study mapping of security and justice support projects. Given the time and resource constraints that influenced the process, along with the national sensitivities around assistance to the Ukraine, it was not possible to collect a comprehensive list of all assistance programmes.

In addition to feeding directly into Sweden’s assessment, the aim of this mapping is to inform the deliberations of development partners regarding potential assistance to the sector. The mapping aims to help identify emerging gaps and overlaps in international support to the reform process in Ukraine, and to identify areas of potential collaboration between development partners. This is very much a preliminary picture, and it will remain important to build on the information with an in-country assessment before any programming decisions are made. However in situations like this, when donor interest is so significant, undertaking such a desk-based mapping is a valuable preparatory contribution towards greater coordination and should be considered for other locations.

In light of their intention to develop a support programme in Ukraine, Sweden has embarked upon a preliminary overview of the security sector in Ukraine. To support the development of the overview, Sweden has mandated ISSAT to provide an initial desk study of the security sector in Ukraine. The desk study was undertaken from 15 July to 04 August of 2015 based on a draft template report provided by Sweden. The short duration of the study, limited available information in the public domain regarding the substance of the reform process, the rapid changes in the sector, and a data collection process that only included a desk review are some of the key limitation in the study.  The study will serve to inform a more detailed sectoral assessment that will be undertaken by the Swedish Government at a later date.

In general, assessments and analytical reports in the public domain that were identified by the review team provided limited information regarding the accountability, reporting lines, and affordability of the reforms or the institutions themselves. Information regarding accountability is largely limited to integrity, corruption and conduct and very little information is available regarding accountability mechanisms that assess performance.  Several sector or institution specific assessments have been conducted by development partners in Ukraine but these remain confidential and were not shared with the review team.  

The overview report complements a parallel mapping of development partner assistance to the justice and security sectors in Ukraine which was undertaken by ISSAT at the request of the Swedish Government. This mapping took place from 02 July to 18 July, 2015.