Local governance development

Local governance development

The problem of centralized systems is both the geographical distance and the resulting lack of knowledge about local circumstances, and also the psychological distance of government officials from citizens. Decentralization, in its turn, creates an efficient and reliable administration, intensifies and improves local developments, better ensures the rights of the local population to have a voice in government, and better protects minorities.

Ukraine started decentralization in 2014 with the adoption of the Concept of the Reform of Local Government and Territorial Organization of Authority Laws On Cooperation of Territorial Communities. It is aimed to form effective local government and territorial organization of authority to create and support a genuine living environment for people, provide high-quality and accessible public services, raise the institutes of direct rule by the people, align the interests of the government and territorial communities. In order for this to happen, population should be aware of the opportunities that decentralization brings and know how to benefit their communities from this process.

Today in society there is a high request to expand tools for self-organization of the population and for the implementation of reform at the local level. The challenge is, the population does not know how to use the available tools correctly, since very little information on this subject is available: there are no toolkits, no step-by-step algorithms, nor free consulting centers. There are also very few organizations provide awareness-raising in this field and the whole topic of decentralizations has been slightly ignored by civic sector over the past years, despite its importance.

RUNY’s activity is aimed to cover the existing gap through implementation of an awareness raising program for population, media and power authorities of small towns in implementation of decentralization and development of civil society in local communities by direct inclusion of citizens in the work of local governance. It intends, among other, to educate active citizens and local authorities on how to create bodies of self-organization of population and to show their effectiveness and efficiency in the development of local governance and the well-being of communities.

Together with governmental programs that are currently being launched in Ukraine our activity creates a synergy for successful implementation of decentralization reform and building of democracy at a local level.