On 16 June 2020, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe held a webinar “Open Government Partnership Going Local in Ukraine”, co-organised with the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC). The aim of the online event was to promote the engagement of Ukrainian local authorities in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Local Programme and to provide them with practical recommendations and guidance, not only in the preparation of their applications, but also in aligning their policies with contemporary open local government principles.

Around 65 Ukrainian local government representatives had the opportunity to learn from and address directly members of the local section of the OGP Secretariat and the OGP International Experts Panel. In addition, participants listened to first-hand experiences on open local government in the City of Buenos Aires, the Basque Government and the e-Governance Academy of Estonia, which stressed the need to co-create with non-governmental stakeholders to ensure sustainable participatory processes.

As a result, Ukrainian local authorities, whose local policies are aligned with OGP’s strategic and thematic priorities, will be able to consolidate and fine tune their applications to the OGP Local Programme and further showcase the advance in open local government in Ukraine.

The webinar was organised as part of the project “Strengthening democracy and building trust at local level in Ukraine” implemented by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018‑2021. The project aims to improve the quality of local democracy in Ukraine by strengthening institutional frameworks and by supporting local authorities and their national associations in their efforts to promote ethical decision-making and more citizen-oriented, inclusive and transparent local governance.