In partnership with GIZ Ukraine, WFD helped establish a Financial and Economic Analysis Office (FEAO) in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (parliament) in 2015, in order to provide the parliament with accessible economic and financial information and help it monitor public spending.

The FEAO supports the reform process in Ukraine by helping the Verkhovna Rada to oversee the actions of the executive by reviewing the use of public funds and providing independent financial and economic research and analysis. This supports the parliament in its role as an effective safeguard for service delivery for Ukrainian citizens and helps ensure that international standards for financial oversight are applied throughout the parliament’s operations, particularly when drafting bills or amending legislation.

WFD worked in partnership with parliamentary officials, committees and parliamentarians from across political factions, giving them the technical and political support which was needed to make progress on the European Parliament’s roadmap on internal reform.

Results

• The FEAO continues to function effectively with a highly qualified office of 12 people, and supports the parliament by providing valuable oversight and information;
• The FEAO completed 300 research studies and analysis; 156 analyses upon the parliamentary committees’ requests, and 13 analyses relating to EU acquis legislative compliance for the Verkhovna Rada.

The programme ended in May 2019. While a parliamentary decree was issued in June 2019 confirming the Parliament’s decision to integrate the FEAO’s expertise and structure into the parliament through the Institute of Legislation, the move has been delayed due to parliamentary elections in July 2019. Despite the challenges, WFD’s continues to engage with the parliament regarding formally integrating the FEAO into its structure.