The Council of Europe project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery” announces an open call for applications from local self-government bodies to receive comprehensive support in implementing citizens’ assemblies — an innovative instrument of deliberative democracy.
As a result of the selection process, three local authorities will be selected to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Project and will receive expert and organisational support to implement citizens’ assemblies in their communities during 2025–2026.
To apply, both documents listed below must be completed (in both Ukrainian and English):
Please note! The application deadline is 13 July 2025 (23:59 CET).
To be eligible for consideration, applicants must:
- Be a local self-government body from one of the Ukrainian regions approved by the Council of Europe’s security service (Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Volyn, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, or Zakarpattia regions).
- Have participated in the online training for public authorities “Deliberative democracy and citizens’ assemblies: innovations for civic participation”, held on 30 May 2025.
- Demonstrate prior experience in participatory practices.
- Have a local team in place and ready to support the process.
- Commit to considering and responding to the recommendations of the citizens’ assembly.
Applications will be assessed based on the following main criteria:
- Motivation for implementing a citizens’ assembly.
- Relevance and importance of the proposed topics for the citizens’ assembly.
- Availability of resources to organise the process (local team, venue, transport, etc.).
- Communication strategy to raise citizens’ awareness about initiative.
- Letters of support from civil society organisations.
- Experience in organising participatory events and using civic participation tools.
All applications must be submitted exclusively by email to: [email protected],
with the subject line: Expression of Interest_citizens’ assembly.
Questions regarding this call must be submitted no later than five working days before the application deadline and exclusively to: [email protected],
with the subject line: Questions - Expression of Interest_citizens’ assembly.
In 2024, the Council of Europe provided comprehensive support to two Ukrainian communities — Zviahel and Slavutych — in implementing the first citizens’ assemblies in Ukraine. These were important milestones in the development of deliberative democracy in the country.
Detailed reports are available at the following links: Zviahel, Slavutych.
Watch the videos about the citizens’ assemblies: Zviahel, Slavutych.
This call is launched within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”, implemented by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
