Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the World Bank has been working with international partners to mobilize fast, targeted, and predictable financial support that helps the Government of Ukraine to sustain essential public services that reach nearly 16 million Ukrainians. The Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance (PEACE) Project finances the salaries of civilian government employees, teachers, health and emergency response workers, and transfers to internally displaced persons, low-income households and disabled children. PEACE helps keep the government running, provides critical essential services and helps vulnerable people who would otherwise fall into poverty. The PEACE Project has disbursed more than $41 billion of which $32 billion has been financed by the United States.
Accountability in PEACE
The PEACE project uses Ukrainian government financial management systems to consolidate and validate expenditure information from numerous government entities, schools and health service providers spread across Ukraine in a complex wartime environment. There are multiple additional layers of controls in place.
- The Government of Ukraine’s (GoU) Ministry of Finance collects and verifies expenditure data from spending agencies and submits reports on eligible expenditures to the World Bank for reimbursement.
- The World Bank reviews GoU reports to verify the eligibility of expenditures before disbursing funds. Reimbursements of expenditures that are found to be ineligible are recovered by the World Bank.
- GoU has hired an independent firm to conduct annual financial audits of the PEACE project. This is a requirement for all World Bank-financed projects. The independent audits have issued clean opinions, meaning that the expenditure reports are accurate, reliable, and did not identify material issues.
- The World Bank has also contracted an independent audit firm to undertake “Agreed Upon Procedure Reviews,” which verify the expenditure reports, assess the effectiveness of expenditure controls and recommend corrective actions where control weaknesses are identified. Following up on these reviews, the World Bank has worked with GoU to bolster controls, notably through the development of digital solutions to verify the eligibility of beneficiaries and track expenditures.
- The World Bank requires GoU to operate a grievance redress mechanism so that individuals can report any concerns about the project.
- The World Bank has also undertaken monthly Listening to Ukraine Surveys to hear from citizens about their experience with the services supported by the PEACE project.
- As with all Bank-financed projects, any reports of corruption or fraud can be referred to the Integrity Vice Presidency, an independent unit within the World Bank Group that investigates and pursues sanctions related to allegations of fraud and corruption.
Last Updated: Sep 25, 2025