In order to foster innovation and inclusiveness in their local policy agendas, local authorities in Ukraine are implementing, with the support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, local initiatives on ethical, transparent and participatory decision-making, paying particular attention to engaging under-represented groups and guaranteeing equal opportunities for women and men to participate in local political life. Altogether, the local initiatives provide an added value to the efforts of the Congress in the establishment of a reliable and efficient local self-government.

As a result, citizens and local authorities alike will benefit from a healthy ethical environment and culture of openness and inclusiveness in local governance. All citizens, regardless of their gender, political affiliation and background, have the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority and seek to determine or to influence local policymaking.

The lack of transparency and poor public ethics are potential threats to the well-functioning of public institutions within all levels of government, including the local and regional levels. Another pressing policy challenge relates to preventing public corruption, since it has corrosive effects on public trust, as well as on the quality of governance and local democracy.

Governments can only function effectively if they enjoy the trust of their citizens, and local elected representatives and public officials bear public responsibility and are expected to put public services ahead of personal interests. In addition, a sound local government must ensure the inclusion of all groups of the population. Inclusive and innovative policies will only be successful if all age groups, all forms of gender identities and minority groups have an equal access to public debates and decision-making.

A number of both international and local experts assist in the design and implementation of the initiatives. They provide guidance on inclusive consultation of local communities, policy development, monitoring and evaluation of results achieved. Experts are charged with visiting the field and meeting with stakeholders and with providing recommendations on governance processes as well as specific methodologies. They also foster exchanges of best practices between participating local authorities.

• Biographies of the experts (in English and Ukrainian)

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and in addition to providing remote guidance, the Congress organised several webinars for an integrated approach to local initiatives in Ukraine. The first series of webinars, which took place from 22 May to 2 June 2020, presented tools and practices that facilitate the engagement of all citizens in local decision-making and participatory budgeting, mainstream gender equality, and strengthen public ethics and transparency in times of crisis. Therefore, a second series of webinars will take place from 29 September to 6 October 2020.

Apart from the expert knowledge provided by these events, one of the main added values of the webinars is that they are a platform for exchanges between municipalities. In a context of local self-government and territorial administrative reforms in Ukraine, local authorities from different municipalities are therefore able to forge a network of experienced municipalities, which contributes to making progress and effectively implementing their initiatives.

Along with these series of webinars, the 13 municipalities implementing local initiatives participated in one webinar on open government and one on sexism held on 16 June and 2 July 2020 respectively. These events served as complementary support to the initiatives being implemented at each of these municipalities and fostered Ukrainian local engagement both in the principles of open government and in the prevention of sexism.