4 February 2016 the Office of experts and monitors of the project “Platform “Ombudsman Plus” held a coordination meeting where the results of the first two waves of monitoring and the algorithm of the third wave were discussed.

During the meeting, the representatives from the various regions of the country were present: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano – Frankivsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi and Kherson regions.

During two sessions the participants discussed a current state of the implementation of the legislation On Access to Public Information in the regions. Thus, during the first session, the participants reviewed and discussed the results of the 1st and 2nd waves of monitoring the legislation performance, the problematic questions that the monitors faced during monitoring and the success stories and achievements. During the second session of the meeting, the coordinators of the project presented the Regulations of the third wave of monitoring of the legislation. At the end of the event, the participants summed up the results and discussed the algorithm of the next third wave of monitoring.

The participants of the project “Platform “Ombudsman Plus” have demonstrated their readiness to continue assertion of the right to access public information of any citizen that is possessed by the subjects of public authority. Additionally, they also expressed their recommendations regarding the improvement of work of public information-handlers in this sphere. The monitors of the project were enthusiastic and determined to continue their monitoring work of the observance of the legislation by the information-handlers.

The project “Platform “Ombudsman Plus” is the network of monitors who observe the state of compliance with the legislation on access to public information launched by Media Law Institute. The concept and formation of a monitoring team were developed in August 2015, and in October 2015 the main monitoring team was already formed, together with the Regulations of the first wave, the adjusted communication between the monitoring team, the organized instructions and consultations, the means of exchange and storage of information (data collected during monitoring). The project consists of 5 stages (waves) of monitoring.

The event was organised with the support of the United Nations Development Program in Ukraine and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.