People have already experienced the benefits of decentralization. Therefore, they should be actively involved in the reforming and managing of the local life.
People have already experienced the benefits of decentralization. Therefore, they should be actively involved in the reforming and managing of the local life.
It was at the XI International Conference on self-organization in Odessa where an issue how to encourage the community development was discussed.
The conference brought together community leaders and experts from Ukraine, Italy, Georgia, Belarus, Poland, Estonia, the United States and the authorities of both local and state levels.
The event was organized by the Association for Community Self-organization and Odessa Institute of Social Technologies in cooperation with the European Local Democracy Association (ALDA) supported by the International Renaissance Foundation.
“The processes we are discussing must be clearly matching: the government” from above “, by inserting ” a regularlizer” for its implementation from the “bottom” can’t do this without communicating with the community. No legal document could go out without a consultation with those who will implement it, otherwise it will not work “, Natalia Fedorovych, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, said.
The conference presented the research results on interregional public participation in the process of consolidation and development of local community. [1] According to the results, 78.8% of respondents said that in their community, public hearings on association of local communities were held actively. The basic pros “for” association were more powerful budget, the quality of social services’ improvement and a wealthier community.
“But a significant obstacle in the way of the reform is that the awareness of residents about its merits is not enough,” said Andriy Krupnik, the Head of the Research and the Organizing Committee.
“Decentralization is defined as one of the five priorities of the Government in 2017. The approach to the reform will be comprehensive, all processes will be processed by different ministries at their level,” said at the conference Mykola Myronenko, a Chief Consultant of the Department for Local Government and Decentralization at the President of Ukraine Administration.
Foreign experts advised not to copy the reforms’ experience in other countries but seek our own way through a dialogue with all stakeholders.
Representatives of donor programs (DOBRE, PACT, the Eastern Europe Foundation, the International Renaissance Foundation) presented opportunities for grant funding initiatives in local government.
Regional resource centers shared their experience of the communities in the process of reform and development of local democracy.
A film “Ukrainian-like Decentralization” which tells what is going on with the reform in communities with active residents, was also presented at the conference.
More information is available by phone: 0974811727 or E-mail: samoorg@ukr.net, Anna Trepalyuk.
[1] The research was held in 46 local communities of six regions of Ukraine: Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions during the period from July to September 2016. The research took place through: analysis of 12 species of local normative acts on public participation, expert survey of 597 respondents, 69 interviews, analysis of websites and local media. Analytical report on the research results is by the link.
