Preservation of UNESCO heritage: How the Ministry of Culture and the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" implement the recommendations of the Accounting Chamber

The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine* (hereinafter - the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry) has begun implementing measures aimed at ensuring the preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra"** (hereinafter - the Reserve) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These and other measures are being implemented to implement recommendations of the Accounting Chamber, provided based on the results of the audit of the effectiveness of the use of state budget funds allocated to the National Reserve «Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra».

Let us recall that the Report on the results of this control measure was approved by the Accounting Chamber on December 18, 2024.

During the audit, it was found that the Ministry did not fully ensure the creation and functioning of a holistic, regulatory, organizational system for managing the protection of the Reserve's cultural heritage, which led to the risks of its non-preservation.

The Ministry's inconsistent management decisions regarding the organization of the protection of cultural heritage prevented the full achievement of the goal of the budget program for its preservation. Thus, during 2020-2023, the Ministry and the Reserve mostly used UAH 556.4 million in a haphazard and inefficient manner under four budget programs.  

In order to eliminate the identified shortcomings, the Accounting Chamber provided 19 recommendations to the control objects.

The Ministry has already begun to implement them:

– bringing the internal control and audit system into line both at the level of its apparatus and in the Reserve;

– formation of the Supervisory Board of the UNESCO World Heritage Site;

– development of the World Heritage Site Management Plan with the participation of ICOMOS/UNESCO experts.

In addition, it is planned to develop regulatory acts that will determine the procedure for using the Reserve's monuments, the boundaries of protected areas, requirements for designers and other aspects of preserving cultural heritage.

However, the Ministry of Culture did not include in the Action Plan a recommendation on the need to prepare a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the procedure for using funds under the budget program "Preservation of historical, cultural and architectural heritage in national and state reserves" without explanation of the reason.

In turn, the Reserve approved the instruction on the organization and implementation of internal control, and also prepared requests to research and design organizations to determine the cost of adjusting the Plan for the organization of its territory. The development of the Reserve's development strategy has begun, which should be consistent with the Strategy for the Development of Culture of Ukraine for 2025-2030 and other measures.

The Accounting Chamber continues to monitor the implementation of the recommendations provided under this audit and will inform the public about its results.

*From 02.09.2019 to 22.03.2020 - the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine; from 23.03.2020 to 05.09.2024 - the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

**Until 2020 — National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve.