Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia or UZ) is at the core of Ukraine’s resilience in light of the Russian war of aggression. With the blockage of sea access and closing of the airspace, its business continuity has become central to the survival of the state. Its 230,000 staff have worked heroically to keep the trains running against impossible odds over the last year.

In parallel, UZ is embarking on ambitious corporate governance reforms. This includes the strengthening of its compliance and corruption prevention functions. The USAID-funded Support to Anti-Corruption Champion Institutions (SACCI) programme is supporting UZ in its efforts to build a governance structure that can match its resilience, and help it become a competitive company that is increasingly integrated with its peers in Europe.

A potential stumbling block is corruption. To address this, UZ and the Basel Institute on Governance kicked of their SACCI-supported collaboration to build resilience against corruption with a two-day workshop on 15–16 May.

Participants from the compliance, procurement, cargo, HR and asset management teams jointly laid the foundation for a thorough corruption risk management process through numerous practical exercises. Participants engaged in mapping, assessing and evaluating corruption risks and brainstorming possible mitigation measures.

We look forward to continuing this cooperation through 2023, targeting more risks through follow-up workshops and ongoing advisory work.

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In April 2023, we were delighted to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, the Ministry responsible for Ukraine’s Restoration. Under the agreement, we are working to minimise corruption risks in the use of state and donor funds allocated for the reconstruction of critical infrastructure.