The first weekend of Ukraine’s inaugural Citizens' Assembly, supported by the Council of Europe, successfully concluded in Zvyahel. This historic event, the first-ever Citizens' Assembly held under wartime conditions, marks a significant step in advancing deliberative democracy in Ukraine. The CA was organised by Zvyahel City Council with the expert, methodological and financial support of the Council of Europe project «Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine».
The Citizens' Assembly of the Zvyahel community, focusing on 'Creating Urban Spaces as Public Locations for Social Interaction and Recovery,' will continue for two more weekends, on October 19-20 and November 2-3, 2024. Over the course of three sessions, the Assembly members, with the support of experts and facilitators, will develop recommendations for local authorities on this highly relevant topic. The municipal authorities have expressed their commitment to considering these proposals in future planning.
The first weekend of the Citizens' Assembly was filled with expert presentations and dynamic discussions on the topic at hand. Following the group discussions and deliberations, the Assembly members voted to prioritise four key community public spaces and four themes for further development of recommendations. These include:
- A parking system in the community;
- Involving young people in creating and developing public spaces in rural areas;
- Cleaning the riverbed and improving water quality;
- Establishing spaces for psychological recovery and mental health support.
The event was attended by the Mayor of Zvyahel, the Deputy Mayor, the Secretary of the City Council, other representatives of local authorities, members of the Citizens' Assembly Supervisory Board, and the Council of Europe project team. The Mayor listened to the Assembly members and emphasised his commitment to supporting the process.
The Citizens' Assembly is a deliberative democracy tool that has already been implemented in many countries across Europe and globally. This is the first time Citizens’ Assemblies are being held in Ukraine, in cooperation with two communities—Zvyahel and Slavutych (soon to be launched).
The organisation of the Citizens' Assembly has been a complex process in the making since March 2024. Its planning, preparation, and execution fully adhere to the Recommendation CM/Rec(2023)6 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on deliberative democracy, as well as international standards for participatory democracy (https://go.coe.int/VUeis).
Earlier, the Council of Europe project “Strengthening Democratic Resilience through Civic Participation during the War and in the Post-War Context in Ukraine”, had selected coordinators for the Citizens' Assemblies (CAs) and conducted a training session for them as well as for representatives of the local authorities in both the Zvyahel and Slavutych communities. Supervisory Boards were appointed within each community, and Stakeholder Forums were held to determine the topics for the Citizens' Assemblies. The project also selected experts and facilitators to support the process.
Following the methodology developed in collaboration with Council of Europe international expert Eva Bordos, who designed and coordinated the first Citizens' Assemblies in Hungary, 4,000 invitation letters were sent to randomly selected households in each community. The sortition was conducted to accurately reflect, as closely as possible, the population of the community aged 18 and over in terms of age group, gender, educational attainment, and district. The random selection of 45 members (2 places were reserved for internally displaced persons) and 12 substitute members was conducted using the open-source software, Panelot. To ensure the involvement of as wide a range of residents as possible in the process, including the members of the diaspora, the municipality's website also provided a platform where any resident could submit their suggestions and opinions on the topic.
The Citizens' Assembly in Slavutych will commence on October 19-20, 2024, focusing on the topic: "How can we improve the household waste management system in our community?".
On March 15, 2024, the Council of Europe project “Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine” held a conference «Visionary ways of engaging citizens: the future of deliberative democracy in Ukraine». During the event, perspectives and challenges of deliberative democracy during war and post-war period were discussed, as well as Citizens' Assemblies as a tool of deliberative democracy. Memorandums of understanding for the implementation of Citizens' Assemblies were signed between the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine and the two pilot communities of the Council of Europe project on civic participation – Zvyahel and Slavutych.
The Council of Europe project «Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine» is designed to support the implementation of the objectives set out in the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine «Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction» (2023-2026) to strengthen the democratic processes and address the challenges public authorities are facing in the time of war and in post-war context through active and effective civic participation at the local, regional and national level.
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