On 19-20 October, Slavutych became the next community to host a Citizens’ Assembly in Ukraine. The Citizens' Assembly on the topic “How can we improve the household waste management system in our community?” was launched by the Slavutych City Council with support of the Council of Europe project “Strengthening democratic resilience through civic participation during the war and in the post-war context in Ukraine”.
The Assembly will continue its sessions on the weekends of 9-10 and 23-24 November 2024. Over six days of deliberations, the 45 members of the Assembly, representing the socio-demographic cross-section of the community, will collaborate with Council of Europe experts to craft actionable recommendations for improving household waste management. The municipal authorities have expressed their commitment to considering these proposals.
The Mayor of Slavutych highlighted in his welcome address: “Certain instruments of democracy do not work during the war, so mechanisms of deliberative democracy, such as the Citizens' Assembly, are extremely important today. I am convinced that we should use this tool in the future”.
Citizens' Assemblies have globally been proven to be a unique opportunity for citizens to directly propose solutions and recommendations to their authorities. This is especially significant in Ukraine, where citizen cannot express their preferences through voting since no regular elections can be held due to the war.
The first weekend of the Citizen Assembly was packed with expert presentations and dynamic discussions. Over the two days, the Citizens’ Assembly members gained insights into different aspects of waste management and explored the legislative and regulatory framework surrounding household waste management.
At the end of the first weekend, one participant shared why she was eager to continue with the upcoming sessions: “This is an opportunity to freely express opinions and drive positive change in the community. I hope all the proposals will be considered in the final report and implemented in Slavutych.”
Previous to the current Citizen Assembly, the Council of Europe project, “Strengthening Democratic Resilience through Civic Participation during the War and in the Post-War Context in Ukraine”, had selected coordinators for the Citizens' Assemblies and conducted a training session for them as well as for representatives of the community. Supervisory Boards were appointed within each community, and Stakeholder Forums were held to determine the topics for the Citizens' Assemblies.
Following the methodology developed in collaboration with international experts, 4,000 invitation letters were sent to randomly selected households in Slavutich. The sortition was conducted to accurately reflect, as closely as possible, the population of the community aged 18 and over in terms of age group, gender, educational attainment, and district. The random selection of 45 members (2 places were reserved for internally displaced persons) and 12 substitute members was conducted using the open-source software, Panelot. To ensure the involvement of as wide a range of residents as possible in the process, including the members of the diaspora, the municipality's website also provided a platform where any resident could submit their suggestions and opinions on the topic.
Learn more about the first session of the Citizens' Assembly in Zvyahel, focusing on 'Creating urban spaces as public locations for social interaction and recovery’.
