UK-Ukraine development partnership: past, present and future

DFID closed its bilateral programme in Ukraine on 31 March 2008 after 17 years of engagement. However, the support to its economic and social development will continue through the UK’s membership of the European Union and contributions to the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the United Nations.

This was a significant shift in the way DFID works with Ukraine and recognition of the country’s progress in a range of areas since 1991, when the UK first started providing aid:

• economy is much stronger – the average real growth rate throughout the last seven years has been 7.4%
• poverty has been reduced: the number of people living under $4.30 a day had fallen from 11.9% in 2000 to 1.5% five years later
• democracy is more robust: there are free and transparent elections and a more open media
• the government system is reforming and introducing international standards to deliver better services to its citizens
• local people feel more engaged in their communities, and want to play an active part in the political and social life of their town, village or city
• there is a growing interest by the private sector to invest and support development
• trade policy is consistently heading towards integration into international markets, resulting in the recent completion of formal negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to WTO.
  

On 27 February, in Kyiv, DFID celebrated these successes, and shared lessons learnt, contained in the booklet, ‘UK-Ukraine Development Partnership: Past, Present, Future’ , with a wide range of donors, central and regional government officials, and representatives from NGOs, local authority bodies, academia and business.