Registration is now open in the Rivne community for a citizens’ assembly taking place in March–April 2026, with comprehensive support from the Council of Europe project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine's recovery”. The assembly will bring residents together to deliberate on a strategically important question — “How can we make our community a place where young people want to stay and build their future?” — and to meaningfully influence local decision-making.
Citizens’ assembly is an innovative deliberative democracy tool in which randomly selected citizens, chosen through a representative sortition process, explore an issue of importance to their community, deliberate with expert support, and develop recommendations for public authorities.
Citizens’ assemblies are widely used across Europe and worldwide. In Ukraine, the first citizens’ assemblies were held in 2024 in the Zviahel and Slavutych communities with the support of the Council of Europe. These assemblies became the first citizens’ assemblies in the world to be conducted during wartime.
In the Rivne community – which includes the city of Rivne and the settlement of Kvasyliv – 5,000 invitation letters have been distributed to randomly selected households. This process follows the methodology developed in cooperation with international experts from the Federation for Innovation in Democracy – Europe (FIDE). All interested residents may also register by phone, by completing the online registration form, or by applying in person at the City Council. Registration is open until 25 February 2026.
From the pool of registered candidates, 45 participants will be selected by sortition, following a dedicated methodology designed to ensure that the final group reflects the community’s demographic diversity, including age, gender, education, place of residence, and other relevant criteria.
Over three weekends (28–29 March, 4-5 April, and 25–26 April 2026), members of the citizens’ assembly will, with the support of experts and stakeholders, explore the topic, engage in facilitated group deliberations, and jointly develop recommendations for public authorities. The authorities commit to following up on these recommendations and identifying appropriate ways to translate them into actionable policies.
A large-scale information and outreach campaign is currently underway in the community: information about the citizens’ assembly is being displayed on billboards, posters, and flyers distributed in shops, healthcare facilities, public transport stops, municipal institutions, and other public spaces.
Earlier, a Stakeholders’ Forum was held in Rivne, where participants discussed the factors influencing young people’s decisions to stay in or leave the community and identified the key information that should be provided to the future assembly members to support the development of well-informed recommendations for local authorities. A Supervisory Committee has also been established. It will be responsible for ensuring transparency and adherence to quality standards across all processes related to the preparation and conduct of the citizens’ assembly, as well as for resolving any disputes that may arise.
More information about the citizens’ assembly in the Rivne community is available on the website of the Rivne City Council.
You can also watch the video address by the Secretary of the Rivne City Council and Acting Mayor, Viktor Shakyrzian: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1HA2UbuS4m/
The Council of Europe project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery” provides comprehensive expert and methodological support for the organisation and implementation of citizens’ assemblies in the Rivne community, the Obolon District of Kyiv, and the Lviv Agglomeration in 2026. In October 2025, the respective Memorandums of Understanding were signed in Strasbourg.
As part of the Project, a series of training sessions on deliberative democracy and the citizens’ assemblies were also held for national experts, as well as for representatives of local, regional and national authorities.
The preparation and implementation of the citizens’ assembly take place 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.
