This issue was discussed during the “Diya” presentation of the Ukraine application, held in Washington on Tuesday by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ukrinform reported.

Presentation of “Action” in Washington/Photo: Yaroslav Dovgopol

“The Ukrainian people are fighting to protect the future of democracy, but they have also been working hard behind the scenes for years to bring democracy into the future,” USAID Administrator Samantha Power said during the presentation.

The USAID agency helped develop the Ukraine app and has set aside funds for its distribution in other countries, the first of which is Colombia, Kosovo, and Zambia.

For vivid imagination, Power asked Americans sitting in the hall to imagine how they could access their passports, apply for construction, or use other services via a smartphone without excessive bureaucracy. According to him, it sounds like a fantasy to people in the USA, but he already works in Ukraine.

“Digital governance platforms also help governments respond quickly to current crises, and people in Ukraine have seen this firsthand during the war,” the agency chief said. He emphasized that platforms such as “Diya” also reduce opportunities for corruption, as all processes in the system are transparent and automatic and are not dependent on authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov assured that “Diya” is reliably protected from hacking and cyber attacks. Of course, the key element for us is cyber security and the protection of physical data,” he said.

The government official also revealed some facts about how “Diya” helped the Ukrainians after the large-scale attack by Russia.

“The invasion is starting and what Ukrainians need? Information – that’s why we deployed Diya.TV and Diya.Radio and fast payment service here to get money for evacuation. Rockets started flying towards the building and that’s why we released a damaged property registration service. So we are constantly considering the needs of Ukrainians,” he said.

In addition, according to him, the government issued a special document for Ukrainians, which especially helped those who evacuated without paper documents. “The Ukrainians, with Diya’s help, crossed the European Union border without documents,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

He also stated that after the application came to light, a “new culture” began to form in the Ukrainian Government. “Governments are vying for priority of product release in Diya. So, the thinking has changed: they are not thinking about how to solve people’s problems inappropriately, but how to solve them as conveniently as possible,” Fedorov said.

As reported by Ukrinform, the presentation of the Ukrainian e-government project “Diya” jointly organized by USAID and Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation was held in Washington on Tuesday. The event was supported by the Ukrainian Embassy in the US, UK Aid, Eurasia Foundation, Visa, Diia.Education and Google.org.