In 2015, the Government of Ukraine began the implementation of its five-year National Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy and Action Plan.
Run by the Ministry for Development of the Economy, Trade and Agriculture (MEDTA), the strategy provides a long-term vision for the development of agriculture and rural areas, as well as offering the basis for a stable, predictable and transparent legal framework aimed at improving the business climate, fighting corruption and stimulating investment for the modernisation of the agriculture sector.
The European Commission supported these efforts through the €5.7 million Support to Agricultural & Food Policy Implementation in Ukraine Programme (SAFPI). The aim of the programme was to help build the capacity of MEDTA staff in policy-making, strategic planning and financial management. It also supported to bring underway new legislations in line with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Tetra Tech delivered technical assistance to develop and implement these agriculture and rural development policies. Our teams’ primary focus was on supporting the development of small and family farms and rural communities, evidence-based policy, state support, state owned enterprise privatisation, agriculture extension and for further developing the fisheries and forestry sectors.
To support the development of small farms and rural communities, we organised roundtables and workshops and prepared policy papers on their role in helping sustainable rural development and to be used as a guideline for policy makers. SAFPI also completed a first-phase pilot in six oblasts for establishing a register of producers and for further roll-out across Ukraine during 2021. One thousand copies of an export booklet promoting Ukrainian agri-food products were printed and widely disseminated under the logo Grow Ukraine.
Specifically, we provided support to:
- Policy-making, as well as structural and managerial capacity-building,
- Improving budgetary efficiency, and
- Reviewing and supporting the development of relevant Ukrainian legislation, gradually aligning it with EU best practices.
Ukraine
2016-2021
European Commission
Results
Our work on the programme enabled the Ministry for Development of the Economy, Trade and Agriculture to put in place modern budgeting and financial management methods and procedures to ensure transparency, accountability and robust internal financial control.
SAFPI established budget planning and preparation instruments and systems reflecting best EU practices, and examined the extent to which procurement processes complied with European and International public procurement practices and standards. It also provided technical inputs on gender sensitive budgeting in the context of MAPF budget programme preparation.
Our team prepared recommendations and clear guidelines for MEDTA, and aided the preparation of legal and sublegal acts, regulatory assessments and public hearings through legal drafters on methodologies.
We also created a template for a comparative analysis of EU-UA legislation compliance, while SAFPI experts contributed to 49 specific sectoral and European integration-related laws. Of these, 35 laws were registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and 14 were formally adopted.
