The Congress will continue supporting deliberative democracy in Ukraine with three new citizens’ assemblies to be implemented in 2025 and 2026. As a result of an open call, the Obolon district of Kyiv (2025), the Rivne territorial community (2026) and the Lviv Agglomeration (2026) – a metropolitan area comprising 12 communities – will receive comprehensive support to prepare and conduct their first citizens’ assemblies.
The Congress will provide methodological and organisational support throughout all stages of the assemblies’ organisation, based on the Council of Europe’s methodology, standards and recommendations. Expert support will be provided by the Federation for Innovation in Democracy – Europe (FIDE), an international non-profit organisation.
Citizens’ assemblies are a widely used tool of deliberative democracy at local and national levels. They bring together randomly selected, representative members of the community who, with the support of experts, study important social issues, engage in discussion, and work towards finding common solutions. Such assemblies strengthen the legitimacy of political decisions, ensure that broader public interests are considered, and make decision making more open and inclusive.
In 2024, Ukraine’s first citizens’ assemblies, supported by the Council of Europe, were held in Zviahel and Slavutych communities, marking an important milestone in the development of deliberative democracy in Ukraine.
The citizens’ assemblies will be implemented as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and within the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
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