USAID Transformation Communications Activity in Ukraine Quarterly Performance Report
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USAID Transformation Communications Activity in Ukraine Quarterly Performance Report USAID Transformation Communications Activity in Ukraine FY 2021 Q1 PROGRESS REPORT (01 October – 31 December 2020) Award No: 72012120C00003 Prepared for USAID/Ukraine C/O American Embassy 4 Igor Sikorsky St., Kyiv, Ukraine 04112 Prepared by Chemonics International Inc. 1717 H Street NW Washington, DC 20006, USA 1 Table of Contents I. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 2 II. CONTEXT UPDATE 3 III. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 IV. KEY NARRATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS 7 V. PERFORMANCE MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING 15 VI. INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT 17 VII. FINANCIAL INFORMATION 18 VIII. SUB-AWARD DETAILS 19 IX. ACTIVITY ADMINISTRATION 20 X. ATTACHMENTS 24 1 I. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AGRO USAID Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities Activity DIIA The Ministry of Digital Transformation developed its own brand to promote state services through smartphones, called “State and I”, that translates into DIIA with capital letters CO USAID Contracting Officer COR USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative DOBRE USAID Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency program ENGAGE USAID Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement activity GOU Government of Ukraine MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning MELP Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan SeeD Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development SMT Senior Management Team StateGeoCadastre State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre TCA USAID Transformation Communications Activity UCBI II Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative II UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNITY USAID Ukraine National Identity Through Youth US United States USAID United States Agency for International Development 2 II. CONTEXT UPDATE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE On Sunday, October 25, 2020 local elections for deputies of district councils and rural townships, as well as city mayors were held across Ukraine. The voter turnout was 35.94 percent with Donbas seeing the lowest turnout of any region. Overall turnout was more than ten points lower than voter turnout in the 2015 local elections (46.5 percent) and at the parliamentary elections in 2019 (49.3 percent). One of the unexpected results of the elections was the success of pro-Russian, vocal Zelensky and reform opponent, blogger Anatoliy Shariy’s party in some cities of southern and eastern Ukraine (Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, and Mariupol) where his representatives secured seats in the local councils. Aggressive ‘disinformation campaigns’ during the elections flooded social media and TV stations with stories about US spies creating COVID-19 in secret Ukrainian laboratories and Zelensky being a ‘marionette of the West’. President Putin's meeting with Victor Medvedchuk from the Opposition Platform - For Life (OPFL) party just two weeks before the elections seemed designed to send a strong signal as to who is best placed to improve relations with Russia.1 According to NGO Detector Media’s (supported by the EU and Council of Europe) monitoring of media coverage of the local electoral process, some political players actively spread messages on Facebook that echoed Russian disinformation. The narratives that were disseminated were national in scope, even when it came to specific regions. Particular messages focused on Ukraine 2 as a “Nazi state”, “failed state”, under “external control”, and with a “failed medical reform . COVID-19 IN UKRAINE (OCTOBER 2020 - DECEMBER 2020) During this reporting period the number of people contracting coronavirus in Ukraine has risen sharply. “Weekend lockdown” On 11 November, the Ukrainian government approved an alternative model of the lockdown labelled “weekend lockdown”, starting from November 14 and covering three weekends. The “weekend lockdown” imposed the closure of all non-essential commerce: cafes, restaurants, and bars (except for take-out orders); shopping malls; cultural institutions; gyms; fitness centers; and 1 https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/11/ukraine-local-elections-challenge-zelenskyys-plans 2https://www.coe.int/en/web/kyiv/-/do-the-media-manipulate-while-covering-the-2020-local-elections-in-ukraine- results-of-two-monitori-1 3 swimming pools. At the same time, the government’s decision provoked anti-lockdown protests in front of the Cabinet of Ministers building. The main objective of the “weekend lockdown” was to reduce social contact during the weekend and therefore break the chain of infections. However, the number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Ukraine continued to grow. According to the official statistics3 as of Saturday, November 28th, 2020 Ukraine set a new record of 16,294 new Covid-19 cases per day. Strict National Lockdown On December 9, the Ukrainian government announced it would impose a new strict national lockdown from January 8 until January 24, 2021. As stated in a recent report from the Rating Sociological Group,,4 56% of Ukrainians support the government's decision to introduce a national lockdown in January and 52% of the respondents believe the spread of the coronavirus will subside due to the lockdown. Mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns Meanwhile, a mass vaccination program to protect people from the coronavirus has started globally. On December 2, the United Kingdom became the first country in the world to permit the general use of a fully tested COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, and began administering doses on December 8.5 The US and Canada embarked on the vaccination process on December 14, and the European Union launched its vaccine campaign on December 27.6 COVID-19 vaccination in Ukraine Discussions on mass vaccination in Ukraine have also been on top of the agenda recently. As of the end of December 2020, Ukraine has not received any vaccines. However, on December 22, 2020 the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approved a COVID-19 vaccination plan. The document was developed by experts from the Public Health Center, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF. The goal of the plan is to vaccinate at least 50% of the population (20 million people) against COVID-19 during 2021–2022.7 The plan envisages four stages of vaccination: 3 https://covid19.rnbo.gov.ua/ 4http://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/ukraina na karantine monitoring obschestvennyh nastroeniy 12- 14 dekabrya.html 5https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2020/12/05/britain-becomes-the-first-country-to-license-a-fully- tested-covid-19-vaccine 6 https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-where-the-vaccine-has-been-rolled-out/a-56073292 7https://phc.org.ua/news/v-ukraini-zatverdili-plan-vakcinacii-naselennya-vid-covid-19-centr-gromadskogo- zdorovya?fbclid=IwAR0fusiDRg7HxszFueVpvEJxONBlXCGcCum PNx AbLvS52Ykm2oKqwnkJg 4 1. January-April 2021 – people with the highest risk of contracting and developing COVID- 19 and those, who perform vital functions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; 2. April-June 2021 – people with an extremely high risk of contracting and developing COVID-19 and those, who provide medical services; 3. June-September 2021 – people with a high risk of contracting and developing COVID-19 and those, who perform functions to maintain the security and livelihood of the state; 4. September 2021 - March 2022 – people with an increased risk to contract and develop COVID-19 and those who perform functions to maintain the security and livelihood of the state. However, it seems not all Ukrainians are open to the offer of vaccination. According to a survey conducted by the Rating Sociological Group in late November, even if the vaccine against coronavirus is free, 40% of citizens are unwilling to be vaccinated. If they have to pay for the vaccine, 57% of respondents shared that they will oppose vaccination. On December 30, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed a contract to buy 1 million 913 doses of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.8 The exact date for the arrival of the vaccines is yet to be confirmed. LAND REFORM The government continued to implement land reform efforts which included the drafting and passing of bills in this field. During this reporting period Parliament adopted law #3295 regarding the functioning of the State Agrarian Register and improvement of state support for agricultural producers. This law introduces an innovative tool for better access to state support programs (especially for small farmers) and transparent use of these programs. In addition, there are still a number of critical bills that need to be passed: - #2194 (passed first reading): simplifies the procedure of land transfer and obtaining property rights; introduces decentralization in the field of land regulations; transfers state lands outside the inhabited localities to communal ownership of communities; the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre will be deprived of most functions concerning control in the land relations; - #2195 (passed first reading): establishes the detailed procedure of electronic auctions that are going to be compulsory for selling as well as executing lease agreements state/communal owned lands; 8https://moz.gov.ua/article/news/moz-uklalo-dogovir-na-postavku-18-mln-doz-vakcini-proti-covid-19-kompanii-sinovak 5 - #3205-2: establishes the Partial Guarantee Fund for agricultural loans; - #3012-2: establishes the principles and formula of land distribution during agricultural lands privatization of state and communal enterprises. However, citizens in general perceive the implementation of land reform mostly as just a free agriculture