Spot the odd one out in a estimate documentation on school canteen modernization: a fridge, a cooker hood, a stove… a Christmas tree. This isn’t a children’s puzzle. It’s a real modernization estimate that the EUACI experts reviewed. Along with the Christmas tree, an expensive coffee machine, computers, and equipment from sanctioned countries had all “accidentally” ended up there.
On 16 June, during the working session on communicating the school nutrition reform the EUACI talked about how to inform communities, schools, parents, and children about the integrity as a key element of the school nutrition reform, and how to communicate integrity in a way that actually gets heard.
Olha Kolodochka, the EUACI Team Leader for Mitigating Corruption Risks in Construction, explained the heart of it: integrity is about preventing mistakes, communicating in time, and sharing responsibility for the result.
“The school meals reform has many important parts: state policy, financing, design, construction, procurement, community involvement. But the secret ingredient that ties all these elements together is integrity. We need to explain that reviewing project documentation is a chance to spot the gaps and redirect funds to additional projects. That monitoring of construction works is a guarantee that, in the end, children get a modern, safe, and quality space where the food tastes good.”
Between 2024 and 2026, experts reviewed 465 projects. As a result, they identified over UAH 362 million in unjustified expenses and redirected the funds to modernize additional 39 canteens.
The main takeaway from the session is simple: integrity isn’t a separate dish. It’s an ingredient already inside every construction and every procurement of construction works.
The event was co-organized by the School Nutrition Reform Team, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the EU Anti-corruption Initiative. It gathered over 1,800 representatives of community, regional administrations, ministries, communal and state enterprises involved in the school nutrition reform.
