The Congress has developed a set of activities on the ground in Ukraine, to follow up on the Recommendation 348(2013) on local and regional democracy in Ukraine and the signature with national authorities in May 2015 of a roadmap setting out a timeline for the implementation of reforms.

Promoting the principles of the European Charter of local self-government as well as good governance, the  Congress activities support mayors and councillors in adopting innovative and participatory approaches, in response to citizens’ needs and expectations.

The activities implemented are diverse and adapted to the needs of the beneficiaries: workshops, regional seminars, platforms for exchanges and networking, direct support, political mediation, and legal advice.

Activities focus on themes such as the role and responsibilities of elected officials, communication with citizens, promoting values of local democracy, and effective and ethical strategic decision-making. They provide participants with an opportunity to identify ways of putting these principles into practice and changing how local affairs are managed, through an approach based on peerb exchanges.

Since 2014, over 150 mayors, 220 local councillors and 250 young local leaders representing all regions of Ukraine have benefitted from those activities. Partnerships with national associations of local and regional authorities have also been reinforced, so as to accompany the change and to scale up the results achieved within the Congress projects.

The capacity-building programme designed by the Congress enables peer exchanges and covers a wide range of topics linked to local democracy, in particular transparency and citizen participation in local decision-making processes, with in addition for local councillors and young local leaders a session focusing on getting engaged in local elections, whether as a candidate or as an activist.

This support scheme is a follow-up to a series of national workshops organised between 2015 and 2017. Following a call for proposals, five local authorities from Ukraine were selected: Baranivka, Zytomir Region, Chernivtsi Region, Kreminna, Luhansk Region, Pervomaysk, Mykolaiv Region and Fastiv, Kyiv Region.

Tailored to the specific objectives of each local initiative, expert guidance, along with financial support, was provided to each municipality to plan, design and implement sustainable and replicable citizen participation actions. The aim was to encourage local authorities to become more inclusive, responsive, transparent and accountable to citizens, whilst ensuring that gender perspective is taken into account.

A number of local policies and mechanisms were introduced in the five municipalities, improving the dialogue and strengthening the co-operation between local authority and citizens. Such actions enable to bridge trust between the local government and its constituencies, enhancing both the quantity and quality of citizen involvement in local decision-making.

Consultative councils, forums and mechanism for opinion polling are just few of the examples of good practice that have resulted from local initiatives.

 Brief on local initiatives: English | Ukrainian

News: Five selected cities

Photos of the award ceremony (Flickr)

Map

One of the main successes of the project “Promoting local democracy in Ukraine” is the creation of an informal yet strong network of like-minded local stakeholders who are committed to change and to enhance the quality of local democracy. Networking events were organised to disseminate and scale-up the results achieved by the project.

Further to the invitation by the Ukrainian authorities, the Congress deployed an enlarged delegation – including 28 members from the Congress itself, 11 from the Parliamentary Assembly and four from the EU Committee of the Regions – to observe the local elections held on 25 October 2015. From 1 to 3 October 2015 a pre-election visit was organised in Kyiv. On Election Day, 24 Congress’ teams, involving in total 56 observers from 25 European countries, monitored the procedures in some 240 polling stations, aimed at electing Heads, Mayors and Councils at different levels of territorial government. The entire Congress mission was closely co-ordinated with other international organisations, notably OSCE/ODIHR and the observers from the European Parliament.
On the whole, the voting and counting processes on E-Day were competitive, well organised and transparent in most of the country and the campaign, in general, showed respect for the democratic process.

Further information

“Strengthening local democratic governance in Ukraine”
Period: 01.10.2021 – 31.12.2022

Partners: Government of Ukraine, local authorities and their associations


Strengthening democracy and building trust at local level in Ukraine
Period: 01.07.2018 – 30.09.2021
Partners: Government of Ukraine, local authorities and their associations


Promoting Local Democracy in Ukraine
Period: 01.07.2015 – 28.02.2018
Partners: Government of Ukraine, local authorities and their associations


“Strengthening the capacity of local authorities in Ukraine”
Period: 1.04.2014 – 31.05.2015
Partners: Government of Ukraine, local authorities and their associations.


“Co-operation with Ukraine – Immediate measures package”
Period: 15.04.2014 – 31.12.2014
Partners: Government of Ukraine, local authorities and their associations.

Congress Secretariat in Strasbourg

Marité MORAS
Head of Unit - Co-operation Activities
 marite.moras@coe.int

Svetislav PAUNOVIĆ
Project Co-ordinator
 svetislav.paunovic@coe.int