Description
“Behind the Aid” investigates how accountability works and where it breaks down in the system that delivers EU assistance to Ukraine. Journalists from the Ukrainian media outlet Galka.if.ua and researchers from Open Space Works Ukraine will map the operators managing EU-funded technical assistance — multilateral organisations, international NGOs, programmes, and consulting firms — and compare how they disclose spending, run tenders and select consultants, and control conflicts of interest. Researchers will analyse what official policies and procedures require. Journalists will test how they perform in practice, including through systematic freedom-of-information requests to operators, beneficiary institutions, and Donors. As Ukraine rebuilds during the war and prepares for large-scale reconstruction after it, the systems examined today will be expected to manage far greater funds, bringing their transparency and accountability to the fore.
“European taxpayers and Ukrainian citizens want the same thing: not simply that aid arrives, but that it is used effectively and does not, even unintentionally, sustain practices Ukraine is trying to leave behind. Government corruption here receives intense public scrutiny. But as assistance grows, operators of donor funds work more and more closely with state institutions — and how integrity is protected in that space is far less visible. What operators declare on paper and what we observe in practice do not always match. If we ask our government how effectively it uses public money, it is fair to ask the same of those who manage donor funds. Should their work be just as transparent and accountable as the best practices they promote? And what does that look like on the ground? These are the questions our team of journalists and researchers will examine across the major operators in Ukraine.” — Nataliia Kobylchak, journalist Galka.if.ua
Project Team
Media outlet
Research organisation
Open Space Works Ukraine (OSWU)
Kyiv, Ukraine
https://openspace.works
Nataliia Harasivka
Research Lead
Ukraine
