The Council of Europe project “Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine” provides support to pilot communities in developing and implementing effective mechanisms of civic participation in accordance with Council of Europe standards and best practices. In particular, the project assists Ukrainian communities in updating and bringing outdated community Statutes into line with current legislation (some of which were adopted over 10 years ago) and developing entirely new ones. In order for local democracy to function and evolve, communities need a fundamental regulatory act – the Statute of the territorial community which contains a variety of important norms and procedures that detail and disclose democratic standards.
Good democratic governance is based on the implementation of powers of local self-government bodies in close cooperation with civil society and all stakeholders to improve the quality of life for citizens and community development, placing the citizen at the center of all democratic institutions and processes.
The Statute of the territorial community is often referred to as the "small Constitution" of the community: it defines and details in its norms accountability, transparency, openness of the activities of local self-government bodies and public officials, determines procedures and forms for the direct participation of residents in addressing local issues, the decision-making process. Additionally, the Statute includes regulations defining specific instruments of civic participation, namely: general meetings, public hearings, local initiatives, civic expertise, electronic petitions, and public consultations.
In 2023, the Council of Europe project on civic participation developed a model Statute of the territorial community and regulations on civic participation, as well as provided expert support to Lutsk, Brusyliv, Berdychiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Slavutych territorial communities in developing Statutes and a package of regulations. Three communities have already adopted the developed documents, and three more plan to adopt the documents in early 2024.
The Council of Europe project “Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine” is designed to support the implementation of the objectives set out in the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” (2023-2026) to strengthen the democratic processes and address the challenges public authorities are facing in the time of war and in post-war context through active and effective civic participation at the local, regional and national level.
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