The first weekend of Ukraine’s inaugural Citizens' Assembly, supported by the Council of Europe, successfully concluded on 6 October 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 deliberative process is organised by  Zvyahel City Council with expert, methodological and financial support from 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 Zvyahel, 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 - 45 randomly selected citizens from different sectors of society - will develop recommendations for public authorities, on how to tackle this highly relevant topic. In the context of the launch, the municipal authorities have publicly expressed their commitment to consider the outcomes and recommendations of the citizen assembly in their future planning.  The Mayor of Zvyahel, Mykola Borovets, welcomed the participants highlighting that they exemplify what it means to be active and committed citizens.

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 some key themes to focus on the recommendations, among them the involvement of young people in creating and developing public spaces in rural areas and establishing spaces for psychological recovery and mental health support.

The Citizens’ Assembly methodology is a pioneering tool for Ukraine, and the experience in Zvyahel will serve as a model for future implementation of similar deliberative processes in Ukraine, to ensure that the authorities listen to the voices and recommendations of citizens. Participants and facilitators agreed: “Today, we are proving that even martial law cannot impede this progress.”

The process of organising the Citizen Assembly in Zvyahel has started in March 2024 with the conference “Visionary ways of engaging citizens: the future of deliberative democracy in Ukraine” and was done jointly with the community of Slavutych. The 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.

Following the methodology developed in collaboration with international experts, 4,000 invitation letters were sent to randomly selected households and a sortition was conducted to accurately reflect, as closely as possible, the population of the community aged over 18, in terms of age group, gender, educational attainment, and district. The random selection of 45 members, including 2 internally displaced persons, and 12 substitute members was conducted using open-source software. In order to ensure access to the process also to members of the diaspora, the municipality's website provided a platform where any resident could submit their suggestions and opinions on the topic.

At the conclusion of the first weekend of the Citizens' Assembly, participants explained why they were eager to continue working in future sessions: “These two days of collaboration made me realise that I’m not just doing something important for the community or supporting the authorities. I’m doing this for my family, for my grandchildren. One day, they’ll visit a beautiful park or playground in Zvyahel and say: "Grandma, look at this amazing place!" And I’ll proudly tell them, I was part of the team that made it happen.”

 A historic milestone for deliberative democracy: Ukraine's first-ever Citizens' Assembly successfully launched - Council of Europe Office in Ukraine (coe.int)