Democracy International conducted a mid-term evaluation of USAID’s Promoting Active Citizen Engagement in Combating Corruption Project in Ukraine to assess the program’s progress toward its performance targets. This program, which aims to reduce corruption in the public sector, is the first component of the Government of Ukraine’s Threshold Country Plan with the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

DI fielded a team to assess the work done by USAID’s implementing partner, Management Systems International, in March 2008. DI’s team conducted interviews with key informants from a wide variety of stakeholders including staff of the USAID Mission to Ukraine and MSI, selected project grantees and beneficiaries, staff members of other donor agencies, experts engaged in civil society advocacy, and members of the government of Ukraine MCC TCP secretariat.

DI found that ACTION is fulfilling the TCP Component 1 design, carrying out activities as planned and making good progress toward meeting or exceeding most of its formal performance targets. It has produced better data on corruption in Ukraine and a wider understanding of the real state of corruption in the country; a wide variety of successful, local anticorruption accomplishments by civil society organizations; and a substantial number of well-written investigative journalism pieces presented in the media to a diverse and large audience. DI recommended that for the remainder of the project, ACTION should focus on increasing the sustainability of its partners’ and grantees’ work in anticorruption.

Photo Credit: Peter Collins