During a five-day study visit to Austria, a delegation of Ukrainian representatives from both public authorities and civil society organisations discovered innovative and successful examples of citizen engagement mechanisms.
In the framework of the Council of Europe project “Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine”, ten representatives from six pilot territorial communities were able to exchange with Austrian peers from municipalities and civil society to learn from good practices in the field of participatory democracy.
The delegation started their learning experience in the westernmost part of Austria, in Vorarlberg, which is a pioneer in the institutionalisation of citizen participation. Vorarlberg has been holding 13 regional citizen assemblies since March 2011, and citizen participation has a prominent position in the Vorarlberg state constitution. The delegation was received by the president of the regional parliament, after that the Mayor of Wolfurt and a representative from the Office for Voluntary Engagement and Participation FEB introduced the Ukrainian guests to different participation mechanism implemented in Vorarlberg and discussed challenges and opportunities for citizen engagement from a political and practical point of view.
The study trip continued in the City of Salzburg where municipal authorities have been implementing participatory processes to define the future of its urban development strategy in recent years. Following welcoming words from the City Councillor for urban planning, the group discussed with Austrian peers how best to combine different participatory mechanisms like youth expert council, citizen assembly and online survey to ensure that citizens of all sectors can be reached in a decision-making process.
The visit ended in the Austrian capital Vienna, where the Ukrainian representatives got an insight into the “Democracy Lab” workshop, an initiative of the Austrian parliament to introduce young people from all over Austria to national-level decision-making processes. In Vienna, the Ukrainian guests also became familiar with the work of the Vienna Climate Team, focusing on citizen participation and climate change. Another highlight of the Study Visit was the warm welcome in Ottakring, one of Vienna’s districts, where more than 40% of inhabitants do not have the right to vote, thus participation processes are the only way for them to voice their needs and visions. On this occasion, the Ukrainian guests learned about practical examples of citizen-steered projects to mitigate climate change. The visit ended with the inspiring presentation of the “Vienna Democracy Strategy”, a blueprint for ambitious initiatives in the field of civic participation, which led Vienna to be designated as European Capital of Democracy for 2024/2025, and the colourful presentation of material of the “Participatory Children and Youth Million” project, which ensures that children from 5 to 20 can participate and voice their ideas in the development of the city.
Despite the situation that Ukrainians are facing due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and difficult conditions in Austria caused by exceptional floods ahead of the visit, Ukrainian participants and their Austrian counterparts were strongly motivated and greatly inspired by the exchanges that took place and they agreed to pursue cooperation through partnership agreements, online exchange meetings and direct peer-to-peer coaching.
This engaging study visit was organised jointly with the European Capital of Democracy, an Austrian organisation promoting civic participation on the European continent.
>> See more about the Study visit on the Council of Europe Kiev Office website, the Council of Europe Portal and also on social media:
