Ukrainian Specialists Have Studied the Digitalization Experience of Sweden
The educational visit toSweden has been the part of the leadership program for women organized by theUNDP in Ukraine and the CDTO Campus
Kyiv, October 09, 2024. 19participants of the leadership program for women involved in digitalization of the public sector have participated in the one-week studies in Sweden. The leaders have researched the best digital practices of this country, particularly in the area of public administration, healthcare, promotion of digital availability and regulation of data opening. Also, the leaders have told about the experience of Ukrainian digitalization and implementation of new products in Diia in the area of social services and healthcare.
During the educational trip, they have visited the key state institutions of Sweden: the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, the Agency for Digital Government (DIGG), the Stockholm Municipal Administration, the Swedish Internet Foundation, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Swecare and other organizations. The listed institutions are the steering ones in terms of regulation of digitalization of Sweden.
The educational visit has ended with the closing ceremony with the participation of the Special Envoy of Sweden for Ukraine’s Reconstruction, Business Sector and Development Ulric Tideström and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine in the Kingdom of Sweden Andrii Plakhotniuk, who have awarded the participants with certificates with all the honours and celebrations.
Sweden is actively supporting Ukraine in terms of digital project development and is going to continue doing so, which has been mentioned by Ulric Tideström. One of the significant cases of this support is creation of 44 e-services and digital instruments in Ukraine in cooperation with the UNDP and Sweden. By the way, Ukrainians have used these services more than 35 million times.
“Our support of Ukraine continues to be the No. 1 priority of foreign policy of Sweden,” the Special Envoy has stated. “We are not going to reduce the assistance during the nearest years. On the contrary, we are going to increase it. At the same time, we are going to insist on further steps in terms of Ukraine’s integration in the EU.”
Also, Andrii Plakhotniuk, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine in the Kingdom of Sweden, has mentioned that the educational initiatives implemented with support of Sweden are supporting the formation of capabilities of state administration of Ukraine, which is especially important during the war.
“Sweden has been supporting Ukraine during the latter’s way of reformation for many years. We see these serious intentions and determination and are deeply thankful for the support of Ukraine during such complicated times,” the Ambassador has emphasized during the closing ceremony. “Running these courses for preparation of Ukrainian specialists is going to make a significant contribution to our efforts in terms of reformation.”
The educational visit to Sweden has been the culmination of the UNDP: Leadership Program for Women Involved in Digitalization of State Services, which has been implemented within the framework of the Diia Support Project by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine with the financial support of Sweden and in affiliation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the CDTO Campus. We would like to separately express gratitude to the lecturers of Linköping University for organization of the educational trip.
“Development of women’s leadership is our responsibility to the future generations of Ukraine. At the CDTO Campus, we are determined to help the digital transformation managers improve their applied and field knowledge and non-technical skills required for management of powerful digital projects and cooperation with donors and stakeholders. We are grateful to our consistent partner, which is Sweden, for reliable cooperation for implementation of the program,” Valeriia Ionan, the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for Eurointegration, has emphasized.
“The UNDP is supporting the Ukrainian government in terms of digitalization of the country, at the same time ensuring gender equality,” Jaco Cilliers, the UNDP Resident Representative to Ukraine, has said. “The leadership program and the educational visit to Sweden have supported the exchange of experiences between the specialists of Ukraine and Sweden, which is a leader in terms of digitalization. This initiative is determined to support the increase of Ukrainian female leaders and increase of their representation in the highest positions in the area of public administration, especially in technical branches, which is of fundamental importance for economic restoration and stable development.”
“The educational visit to Sweden has given us an opportunity to compare the practices used in Ukraine and Sweden. It gave us great interesting experience and a lot of ideas that we will be able to implement during our work,” Yanina Liubyva, the open data expert of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, has mentioned.
“Sweden is an actual ally of Ukraine along the way of integration in the EU. Electronic healthcare, social services, open data and inclusion – the experience of this country is useful for us in many areas. Application of these lessons is going to help make Ukraine more progressive, more inclusive and more human-oriented, like Sweden is today,” one of the program participants has said.
For reference
The six-month leadership program has been launched in April 2024. The studies consist of weekly webinars on the topics of digitalization and its trends, effective management and soft skills, as well as offline training sessions. 20 specialists (representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Social Policy and other central and regional authorities, particularly of Vinnytsia, Luhansk and Rivne regions)have participated in the program.
This is the second program like this. The UNDP in Ukraine has launched such a program in 2023 with financial support from Sweden. In 2022, the partners have also initiated the program of internship at the Ministry of Digital Transformation for female alumni and young specialists of technical specialties.