DumkoFest – first anti-corruption opinion festival took place in Kyiv
September 23, 2018 – The first anti-corruption opinion festival DumkoFest.Anti-Сorruption took place in the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko Park. The festival is organized by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), with the organizational and financial support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine and the EU Anticorruption Initiative in Ukraine.
During the opening of the festival Director of the NABU Artem Sytnyk exhorted citizens to discuss openly the anti-corruption reform in Ukraine. He also thanked to the international partners for their help in organizing the festival.
"One and a half years ago, we, together with our international partners, launched an informational campaign "Students against Corruption", the essence of which was to create a platform for discussion, as well as explain to young people what corruption is, how to deal with it, and what is missing to make this struggle successful. This festival is another opportunity to bring to you what is happening in Ukraine with anticorruption reform," said Artem Sytnyk.
A head of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine, Eka Tkeshelashvili, stressed that the fight against corruption is important for the development of any country. Especially if it needs to fight for its own security and economic stability at the same time.
"Ukraine's success depends on progress in combating corruption and establishing the rule of law. So the equality of everybody before the law becomes a predictability. And every citizen must have equal conditions for self-realization," said Eka Tkeshelashvili.
The Democratic Governance Advisor, Team Leader of Democratic Governance Team at UNDP Ukraine Marcus Brand noted that the establishment of accountable, transparent institutions and a significant reduction of corruption level is a part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. He also emphasized that civil society plays an important role in accelerating this process and establishing an effective social dialogue.
"The fight against corruption is not just the job of public institutions. It is also a matter of embracing a society to follow the idea of integrity. And for that, we need active citizenship and everybody’s involvement in the discussion on these issues. DumkoFest is a good example of how we can create such a discussion", said Marcus Brand.
Discussions in the park took place in two locations. What hinders the success of our state, who is the main one in the fight against corruption and which is the ideal recipe for Ukraine discussed on the main stage of the festival. At the same time, on the youth scene they discussed the myths of corruption, such as "Fish rotting from the head down” or "A gift is not corruption", discussed the importance of digital technology for transparency and integrity, sharing success stories of achievements in an honest manner.
Also, the NGOs Alley was organized within the framework of the festival. The Alley gathered activists, investigative journalists and representatives of state institutions sharing their results on anti-corruption investigations, methods for exposing corrupt officials and educational programs.
DumkoFest.Anti-Corruption is the first open platform where everyone can express their opinion, deepen their knowledge and critically evaluate the realization of anti-corruption reform in Ukraine. The festival is a kind of opinion festival (or "democracy festival") which first appeared in Scandinavia. More information about the program and participants of the event and video recording of the festival's discussions can be found at dumkofest.org.
Photo by Andrii Krepkykh
See more photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nab_ukr/albums/72157698494161672
