On 4 and 5 June 2024, the first training round for Citizens Assemblies coordinators took place in Kyiy, launching at the practical implementation of the two Citizens' Assemblies in the Ukrainian communities of Zvyahel and Slavutych. 

19 participants attended the training, including the six coordinators of the upcoming assemblies in Zvyahel and Slavutych, representatives of the local authorities of Zvyahel and Slavutych communities, and representatives of Civil Society Organisations from all over Ukraine.

Conducted by the Council of Europe expert, Eva Bordos, who participated in the design and coordination of  the first Citizens' Assemblies in Hungary, the two-day training allowed participants to familiarise themselves with the structure and stages of conducting a Citizens’ Assemblies, as well as the roles of all involved participants. They learned to identify and apply logistical and organisational tools necessary for the successful implementation of Citizens’ Assemblies, along with the necessary skills for the effective coordination of the process and the involved stakeholders, experts, and members of the Citizens’ Assemblies. A part of the training focused also on effective communication strategies with the different stakeholders involved in the process, which normally takes between 4-5 month.  

The assembly itself, the core event during which the citizen will deliberate on a certain topic, will take place in several sessions, during two to three weekends from September to November 2024. The whole process, the design, the preparation, and the conduct of the Citizens' Assemblies complies with the principles of deliberative democracy of Council of Europe and international quality standards on participatory democracy. 

The organisation of these Citizens’ Assemblies follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the two communities Zvyahel and Slavutych on 15 March 2024, during conference "Visionary ways of engaging citizens: the future of deliberative democracy in Ukraine" and is embedded in a series of measures to enhance the engagement of citizens in decision-making in the reconstruction and recovery process, and to strengthen a participatory culture and social cohesion in Ukraine during wartime. 
 

Read also the following article: Citizens' Assemblies – for the first time in Ukraine. The Council of Europe project on civic participation trained coordinators