First, EMBA-39 met with the head of the NACP, Oleksandr Novikov. Before heading this institution, Mr. Oleksandr, in the prosecutor office, the military prosecutor's office, dealt with cases related to Russian aggression and interference in Ukrainian IT systems.

He told the participants that today Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe in terms of GDP. Even the unrecognized Kosovo is richer. There are also significant problems with the perception of corruption. "Therefore, we face challenges that cannot be solved by working traditionally and using traditional management methods. We analyzed the maturity levels of management systems and realized that we needed to jump through several levels simultaneously. If our country is currently in second place, we aim for fifth place immediately. Our challenges cannot be overcome without it," says Mr. Oleksandr.

The vision of the NACP team is to be champions of integrity, a model for other state organizations, and an example of an influential institution. After all, it is not within the power of only one structure to change the state, and joint work is needed for the result.

The speaker shared a quote from Alvin Toffler's book "The Third Wave": if American business moves at 100 km/h, then American institutions, although they are pretty efficient, move at a speed of 1 km/h. "We must be more effective than our US and EU partners to change our country. This is a matter of our survival," concluded Mr. Oleksandr.

Values are the basis of any organizational change. Without values, the system will be frustrating and ineffective. NACP recorded five fundamental values:

virtue;
Interaction (together, we can do everything!) with partners and opponents. "We live in a world of ecosystems, so even corrupt people are the ones we interact with. In particular, we inspect and convince," the speaker said;
responsibility for the result;
development;
ambition.

Recruiting at NACP is based on values. "Competencies are important to us, but if the candidate's values do not match ours, we will not hire him," says Mr. Oleksandr.

The primary function of NACP is to supervise the authorities in the interests of citizens and businesses. "We are setting up the state to work for citizens and business," says the head of the NACP. — "After all, the goal of any state should be to create the best conditions for people and companies." And Mr. Oleksandr sees building a compliance system as one of the essential tasks to make it easier for Ukrainian businesses to enter the foreign market.

Also, within the framework of the visit to the NACP, EMBA-39 participants met with Agia Zagrebelska, who heads the sanctions department. She said that on February 24, 2022, Ukraine, like the world, faced the challenge of the lack of sanctions infrastructure. And even in those countries where it existed, it was not adapted to the intensity of sanctions they began to apply. "It was necessary to build it, form lists, etc. — and the NACP turned out to be the body that had the motivation, capacity, and necessary resources to start performing the functions of a sanctioning body very quickly," says Ms. Agia.

The first sanction lists were formed at the NACP as early as February 26-28. And this was done by people who never knew what sanctions were! "Representatives of various bodies — the SBU, the Cabinet of Ministers, etc. — gathered here and compiled these lists," the speaker recalls.

This war is a struggle between democracy and autocracy. Mrs. Agia believes and comments: "The strength of democracy is that there are people ready to join at any moment and start multiplying the effect. We decided that it would be more effective to transfer the functions of sanctions enforcement to an unlimited number of people on the planet."

Thus, the NACP created a particular "War and Sanctions" portal with a unique "International War Sponsors" section. Companies that take an active part in the war are published here.

"We will live with sanctions for a long time. It would be best if you did not think that this is only a matter of Russia's war against Ukraine, and after it, everything will end. If we join the EU and NATO, sanctions against Iran, Myanmar, etc., will become commonplace. Therefore, now is the best moment to understand what sanctions are and to implement these mechanisms in your organizations," Ms. Agia is confident.

And she also responded to the opinion that "sanctions do not work": "The effectiveness of sanctions is most confirmed by the new and new ways that Russia invents to circumvent them." Sanctions are not constant: the entity against which they are applied acts like a microbe that an antibiotic tries to kill: it adapts. That is why sanctions often look completely different six months later. "So now we see how the world invents tools that didn't exist until recently," the speaker says.

How EMBA-39 visited the NACP