UNLA helped restore entrepreneurs' access to grant programs through "Diyu"

The “Diia” support service confirmed that the submission of grant applications for entrepreneurs in the Lviv region was temporarily unavailable due to a technical glitch. Following a public appeal by the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the service announced that the issue had been resolved.

The National Association of Lobbyists of Ukraine announced the tangible results of its efforts to restore access for entrepreneurs and certain categories of citizens to government grant programs through the “Diia” portal.

Earlier, Oleksiy Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association (UNLA), appealed to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine regarding a situation in which, according to the association, entrepreneurs and representatives of military families were unable to apply for government grants due to technical limitations in the functionality of the “Diia” platform. The appeal highlighted the need to bring the digital service into compliance with government decisions that grant individual applicants the right to reapply for grant programs and expand the pool of eligible recipients.

Following the association’s inquiry, the applicants received a response from the “Diia” support team, which officially acknowledged the existence of a technical issue affecting the Lviv region.

“Indeed, the application submission feature for your region was unavailable for some time due to a technical glitch. However, our specialists have now fully resolved the issue, and the service should be working properly,” reads the response from the “Diia” support team received by applicants.

The letter also states that if the problem persists, users are asked to provide the draft application number and a screenshot of the step where the issue occurs. According to support, this should allow specialists to investigate the specific case from a technical perspective and help complete the document submission.

Thus, following the intervention of the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association, the issue that the applicants had previously viewed as a de facto blockage of access to the grant program was at least partially acknowledged by the technical support team of the government digital service.

This is not merely a technical matter, but a question of the practical implementation of the government’s policy to support entrepreneurship. Resolution No. 738 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regulates the procedure for awarding microgrants for starting or expanding a business. In October 2025, the government also adopted amendments to this program, which took effect on January 1, 2026, and provide, in particular, the possibility of receiving an additional one-time microgrant for entrepreneurs who have fulfilled the conditions of the previous grant, paid taxes and social security contributions, and created jobs.

The UNLA has previously emphasized that the digital service should not create artificial administrative barriers for citizens who are eligible for government assistance. The association demanded that the system allow for resubmission of applications, include new categories of aid recipients, provide a public explanation of the causes of the problem, and establish an alternative mechanism for submitting applications until the system is fully restored.

The response received from the “Diia” support team shows that public engagement and professional advocacy on behalf of the applicants can yield concrete results: the issue was documented, identified as a technical glitch, and, according to the service, resolved.

At the same time, the ultimate measure of this decision’s effectiveness will be not merely a notification that the error has been corrected, but the actual ability of entrepreneurs, military personnel, and their family members to submit grant applications without hindrance. This, as the association emphasizes, should be the main indicator of the quality of government digital services—not the mere existence of a service, but citizens’ actual access to the support mechanisms provided for by law.

For the Ukrainian National Lobbyists Association, this case marked yet another successful example of institutional lobbying — an example of how professional communication with government authorities can work in the interests of entrepreneurs, veterans, military families, and citizens who depend on the effectiveness of public services.