Municipalities around the world, including in Ukraine, are searching for innovative ways to minimize the impact of quarantine on civil participation in decision-making. This is the case of Lviv, “Ukrainian Piedmont”, where the City Council is adjusting to the new reality without losing time. Surely, the quarantine caused by COVID-19, posed a number of problems: “What we can do online is being done as much as possible but, for example, we cannot hold public hearings online, as we still have some paperwork that cannot be replaced”, says Mr Orest Fayfurka, Head of the Public Partnership Department, Lviv City Council.
Nevertheless, the public servant sounds optimistic and dedicated more than ever: he shared steps the City Council is undertaking in special circumstances of COVID-19 to ensure good practices for civil participation: “The city has its e-petition platform that the City Council is currently planning to adapt to implement e-consultations procedure. Citizens are now staying home, they remain active and would like to be involved in city life not less than before. Thus, Lviv City Council is now focusing on moving such instrument of civil participation as public consultations in online format and improving their mechanisms. We believe it will work!”
According to the representative of Lviv City Council, at the moment public officials are keen to exchange experience with European municipalities about hot to adjust the work to the quarantine and how to establish proper mechanisms of civil participation. “Moreover, it would be quite interesting to learn about other innovative solutions for online mechanisms of civil participation”, says Mr Fayfurka.
In response to the challenges caused by COVID-19, the Council of Europe project "Promoting civil participation in democratic decision-making in Ukraine" starts its cooperation with Ukrainian municipalities to ensure the effectiveness of public participation procedures and tools in remote (online) work and more targeted involvement of citizens in the decision-making process.
