Three communities involved Odesa CVC experts in drafting their charters

Avanhardivska, Artsyzka, and Berezivska communities in Odesa Oblast have begun drafting their charters as part of the project "Promoting the Development of Territorial Community Charters and the Use of Local Democracy Instruments in Odesa Oblast."

The project is being implemented by the Odesa regional organization of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.

In particular, on July 30 and August 1, kick-off meetings were held between project experts and specialists from Avanhardivka settlement and Artsyzka city territorial communities to discuss the project's goals and objectives, the main stages of its implementation, and aspects of cooperation between the community and the Odesa CVU.

The goal of the project is to help local governments develop, discuss and adopt community charters in accordance with the requirements of current legislation and provide residents with clear and effective mechanisms for participating in decision-making.

At the first stage of the project, experts will conduct a study of the state of regulation and practices of using forms of local democracy in the participating communities, after which they will begin to develop, publicly discuss, and later adopt draft charters at council sessions. An important part of the project is to train representatives of local governments and the public in the use of local democracy tools provided for in the adopted charters, as well as to conduct information campaigns to increase community engagement. The communities will also hold information meetings with schoolchildren on the use of local democracy tools.

As a result of the project implementation, the three participating communities will develop and adopt charters, and through training events and information campaigns, the practices of involving residents in solving local issues will be strengthened.

"The Law of Ukraine 'On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Democracy at the Local Government Level' stipulates that the approval of the statute of a territorial community by a village, town or city council is mandatory. This document should reflect not only the historical, national, cultural, socio-economic and other peculiarities of local self-government in the respective territorial community, but also detail numerous procedural aspects of the exercise of the right of residents to participate in resolving issues of local importance. At the same time, local governments have a rather limited time - until January 1, 2027 - to develop and adopt their charters. Our project provides comprehensive assistance to the Avanhardivska, Artsyzka and Berezivska communities of the Odesa region, in particular in terms of project development, public discussion with residents, training in the use of local democracy tools and information campaigns," said Anatolii Boiko, project manager and head of the Odesa CVU.

It should be noted that the charter clearly defines the relationship between the authorities and community residents, this document also details the issues regulated in the laws in general, and promotes the formation of solidarity between the authorities and the community, opening up additional opportunities for obtaining investments for community development.

Кирило Бойко