Organization and conduction of the scientific international conference “Actual issues of reforming the communication process between Ukrainian authorities and public” commissioned by the World Bank in Ukraine and with the financial support of the Department for International Development of Great Britain.

Organizers: Center for Social Expertise and National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.

Manager: Sapelkin Yu.V.

The purpose of the conference is to discuss the state and main directions of reforming the strategy and tactics of public communications of the authorities of Ukraine in modern conditions, to suggest ways to retain and build confidence in them and their reputation among key groups of domestic and international public.

• Current state of the practice of communication between the authorities and the public: the problems of reformation process in Ukraine;
• Practice of communication between authorities and the public: international experience;
• Problems of staffing of communicative work of Ukrainian authorities and issues of training specialists in public relations.

Specialists of state institutions, international organizations, domestic and foreign experts in the field of social communications, sociology, public administration, heads and teachers of public relations departments of leading universities of Ukraine, media specialists, graduate students and students were invited to participate in the conference.

 The conference was held on March 17, 2016 in the premises of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. There were 60 participants.

According to the results of the conference, the collection “Actual issues of reforming the communication process between Ukrainian authorities and public” was published (Reports of the International Conference)

General conclusions of the conference:

1. Optimization of communications between the authorities of Ukraine and the public requires the creation of certain prerequisites.
2. Public relations professionals need access to discussion of strategic issues, the ability to influence policy development. That is, the strengthening of their status is required.
3. State management should recognize public relations as a key component of strategic management, whose mission is to strengthen the reputation of the state and trust in the authorities.
4. Specialists in public relations should be involved in solving domestic and international problems that have a great public resonance.
5. Public relations specialists must overcome the “imagemaking job crush”. They must deepen their understanding of the problems of the development of society, to argue reasonably for their top leaders their vision of ways and methods of strengthening the reputation of the Ukrainian state.
6. Problems requiring further attention

–          Public relations services of state bodies need to overcome the shortage of PR programs, work in the “fire brigade” mode.

–          Shift of the emphasis to personal communication of officials with the public, including using the media and Internet networks.

–          Strengthen the system for monitoring assessments, comments and proposals of the public on the policy of government bodies, listen to expert public opinion.

–          Strengthen the effectiveness of such forms of bilateral communication, such as the work of public councils under executive bodies, holding public and presidential hearings, the introduction of public expertise etc.

–          Transform the system of “Electronic government” into a truly “communicative state” regime.

–          All participants of bilateral communication should learn to speak the same language and master one algorithm of public activity. In this process, public services of public relations should turn into peculiar “editors of the communication process”.

–          The mastering of civilized relations with the public through the system of postgraduate education, retraining and advanced training for personnel remains actual for workers in public administration and local government.