Ukraine’s Inspiring Journey in the Open Government Partnership

The Russian war on Ukraine is taking place at many levels. The first, on the physical battleground, is resulting in daily devastation and loss of human life and physical infrastructure at a scale that many of us cannot fathom. For others, it is more familiar and a reminder that multilateralism and global peace remain unfulfilled ideals. The second,  happening online and in the media, is a battle between truth and dis- and misinformation. Underlying both of these, is a war between competing ideologies of the relationship between a state and its peoples. The contestation between autocracy and democracy, between closed and open societies. 

People across the world have been watching the response of the Ukrainian people with a mix of awe and inspiration, heartbreak and despair, as they fight back heroically. But this is not the first time the country and its people have inspired the world by fighting against the odds. Ukraine’s journey in the Open Government Partnership, especially the reforms undertaken after the 2014 ‘Revolution of Dignity’, also known as the ‘Maidan Revolution’ has inspired action across the Partnership. What follows is a chronicle of the reforms Ukraine has undertaken in its ten years as an OGP member, and what has been so tragically interrupted by the war.