On 27 November 2021, took place the final event of the training program "Participation in political and public decision-making processes at local level", which was piloted by the Council of Europe* in partnership with Poltava Oblast Council during November 2021. The program is aiming to increase the participation of young women and girls in development and decision-making processes at local level.
During that final event, the participants of the program confirmed the level of knowledge and practical skills they acquired during the trainings, and presented their own projects aiming at improving the lives of their communities. These projects were developed by the participants within the curriculum.
"So much inspiration", "quality of trainings, teaching materials at the highest level", "I could not even think that I would learn so much and be able to develop a project", "emotions overflow", "very useful trainings, incredible speakers", "a lot of knowledge ", " I know which direction to take and what to do", "new opportunities, horizons, knowledge", "to new achievements and discoveries"… are few of the participants’ feedback at the end of that final event.
During the projects’ defence session, the young women leaders from Poltava region have demonstrated the skills and knowledge they acquired during that training programme through th presentation of their own projects, the correspondingly developed advocacy campaigns, as well as the completed digital matrix for the projects. Among the criteria for evaluating the projects of the participants, in addition to the results of the work during the training program, were, in particular:
- substantiation of the relevance of the problem
- level of project preparation and elaboration
- inclusion of gender component and Council of Europe standards
- understanding and use of strategic documents in local community self-government
- clarity and completeness of advocacy targets’ identification
- understanding existing mechanisms/instruments of public participation and definition of the appropriate mechanism/instrument of public participation for the purposes of specific project’s implementation
- detailed specification and clear structuring of preparation and implementation of the advocacy plan of the project (compliance with the stated purpose of advocacy)
The results achieved as well as the projects presented, were evaluated by a panel composed of the representatives of the Office of the Council of Europe in Ukraine, of the Poltava Oblast Council, as well as the trainers of the program.
During the defence session, 6 excellent social and environmental projects, developed from A to Z and ready for implementation, were presented. The final "touches" to the projects - advice and guidance on further implementation from trainers, representatives of Poltava Oblast Council and the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine - were welcomed by the participants and motivated them for further development and work, as well as for active promotion and implementation of the projects at local level.
While evaluating the projects presented by the participants, Ms Lilia Ruroyeva, Deputy Head of Poltava Oblast Council, underlined, in particular, the high level and quality of the developed projects, as well as the fact that they can compete with the projects that already participate in annual calls for public projects initiated by Poltava Oblast Council. Participants of the training program were also invited to take part in the training programme for project managers, which will be held next year by the Poltava Oblast Council.
The training program was developed and implemented in accordance with recommendations of the Council of Europe Toolkit "Participation of young women and girls from disadvantaged groups in political and public decision-making processes at local level"**.
*The training program was implemented in cooperation and with the support of the Council of Europe projects “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine” and “Strengthening civil participation in democratic decision making in Ukraine”
** The toolkit was developed with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2022
