On 17 September, the First Lady Olena Zelenska and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola visited a Kyiv school where children now dine in a newly modernised canteen.The canteen was reconstructed as part of the School Nutrition Reform.
Allan Pagh Kristensen, Head of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI), and Andriy Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, presented the results of the project to modernize school canteens.
During the presentation Allan Pagh Kristensen, Head of the EUACI, highlighted: “Many told us it would be a waste of time to even try to close corruption gaps in construction of canteens. But we decided we had to try. This project became an experiment – not only for us, but for Ukraine. And we proved that with a systematic and collaborative approach, it is possible to reduce risks significantly – and to do so in a non-expensive way.”
The school canteen modernisation is part of a unique pilot project, developed jointly by the EUACI, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and the School Nutrition Reform Team. This is the first time a corruption-prevention model has been applied systematically across all stages of a construction process – project design, procurement, and construction.
Key results include:
- In 2024, 187 projects were reviewed before construction began. This early monitoring helped identify over UAH 130 million in non-compliant expenditures, allowing the funds to be redirected to 20 additional school projects.
- In the first and second quarters of 2025, 168 projects were analysed. Over UAH 187 million in questionable costs were flagged, enabling reallocation to 16 more projects.
The EUACI’s collaboration with the Ministry and the School Nutrition Reform Team continues this year. The next phase will focus on procurement monitoring and remote technical supervision of the construction. All findings are publicly available through an interactive dashboard.
In August, the monitoring approach developed by EUACI was officially adopted by the Ministry of Education as Methodological Recommendations on Subvention Monitoring, making it a national standard of Ukraine’s education system.
While this monitoring model is currently focused on school canteens, its principles are fully adaptable to other public investment projects. EUACI has developed a dedicated case study to illustrate how the approach can be tailored to infrastructure, health, or any other sector requiring transparency and efficiency.
