News
11.08.2021

“What is public policy and how to shape it” — a new online course for civil servants on Diia.Digital

Today, a new online course for civil servants “What is public policy and how to shape it” was presented. The free-of-charge training is available on the Diia.Digital Education portal. Oleksii Dorohan, BRDO CEO, is one of the speakers, and Roman Kobets, BRDO expert, is the course author.  

Why is this necessary for civil servants? 

  • to know what public policy is
  • to understand the specifics of each stage of the public policy cycle
  • to apply policy analysis procedures
  • to use a wide range of tools to analyze current policies
  • to take into account specific public policy influences
  • to use available electronic resources

Additionally, after completing the training, every participant will receive a certificate of successful completion of a basic digital literacy course with an extent of 0.2 ECTS credits.

During the presentation of the course, Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration, said: “In Ukraine, more than 160,000 people hold public positions. We are well aware of their need to acquire new knowledge, apply new approaches in their daily work, and constantly expand their area of responsibility in the context of decisions made. That’s why my partners and I have developed an educational course for them.”

Manal Fouani, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine, stressed that public policy should always take into account public interests and views of all stakeholders, especially including those who are vulnerable and marginalized, as emphasized in the online series.

“An approach that involves the participation of the whole society is something that we always promote when we think about the public policy development. We know that societies cannot move forward effectively until they act together. Every lesson of this series is built around this topic,” Manal Fouani said.

Natalia Alyushina, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service, noted that the creation of this educational series was in line with the NACS’s strategic goals. She also said that one of the important competencies of a civil servant should be a desire for self-improvement, continuous improvement of knowledge and skills. “One of the priorities set in the NACS’s strategy is the formation of an effective system of professional training for civil servants and local government officials. And even more, the professional development of civil servants is enshrined in the Public Administration Reform Strategy as a priority and task. This educational course will broaden the horizons of civil servants. After all, we are considering in detail the policy formation and what cogs are used in this giant wheel to be moving in the right direction. The main thing is to understand what the rules are, how much time and effort it takes. And the fact is that this can and should be learned,” Natalia Alyushina said.

Oleksii Dorohan, CEO of the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), emphasized that the educational course would be useful not only for civil servants but also for GR specialists, advocacy specialists, and the civil society as a whole. “It is important to understand that the policies are formulated not only in the governments but also during the interaction with society, business associations, and other stakeholders. And the way the policies are shaped affects the qualitative changes in the country. In the online course, we talk about what public policy is, how to identify and solve pressing issues, how to formulate public policy, and then evaluate and review it. This is a standard cycle that makes it possible to break down the work of any government agency that shapes policy into molecules.”

You can watch the course presentation broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Digital Transformation or the Facebook page of the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

The course of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine was developed in partnership with the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) and the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service, with the support of the Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalization of Public Services in Ukraine (DIA Support) Project implemented by the UNDP Ukraine and funded by the Government of Sweden.