The EGAP Program sees the objectives of the e-Democracy component as:
During the first phase of the EGAP Program, 2015-2019, considerable attention was paid to formulating a national policy for e-democracy. We participated in the establishment of the Coalition for E-Democracy, which brought together key stakeholders involved in this area, especially numerous civil society organizations (CSOs). A major result of this cooperation was the drafting of a Concept for e-Democracy in Ukraine and its approval by the Cabinet in November 2017, together with an Action Plan for implementing it.
We also worked on systems for instituting the instruments of e-Democracy: single system for local petitions, a platform called “The Public Budget,” and, later, the first national platform for e-democracy at e-dem.ua. In addition to “The Public Budget” and “Local Petitions,” the Platform brings together other working instruments that are needed for online participation: “Open City” and “e-Consultations.” In this way, those who have registered on the Platform just once can use all the instruments of e-democracy that are available in their community.
The e-Dem Platform is constantly being improved, including a transformation from the regional to the national level. Among others, the experience we gained was applied in the process of instituting e-petitions to the Cabinet of Ministers. The adapted budget participation function makes it possible to run grant competitions for NGOs that have been launched by various central executive bodies (CEBs), and makes other forms of interaction between individuals and local government agencies much easier.
At the same time, the EGAP Program supports IT start-ups. The EGAP Challenge competition encouraged the formation of an e-democracy ecosystem and helped find, select, mentor, and fund innovative IT start-ups that could bring to life ideas that would influence their communities. Among the winners of the EGAP Challenge competition are such well-known services as:
Teaching ordinary people to use e-democracy instruments is an important priority in our activities, as is digital literacy as a whole. With the start of the second phase, 2019-2023, the EGAP Program has been included in setting up a national online digital literacy platform called Based on digital competency levels in the EU, DigComp 2.0, the “Diia.Digital Learning” platform is designed to develop digital skills in 6 million Ukrainians by 2023. According to a digital skills survey of Ukrainians run by EGAP in partnership with the Ministry of Digital Transformation—the first of its kind in Ukraine—, 53.5% of Ukrainians have digitals skills at a slightly below-average level. Our goal looks ambitious, but entirely achievable.
Anyone who wants can already take the courses available on this platform at no cost:
In time, the list will include courses in various digital professions, using e-democracy instruments, cybersecurity, and much more.
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