Abstract
The beginning of the new millennium has been marked by the active development of globalization processes and the strengthening of the role of civil society institutions in the world arena, a key place among which belongs to non-governmental organizations (NGO) (Latif & Williams, 2017). During their operation, NGOs have offered a wide range of services and developed and implemented various development projects. The largest projects are related to the development of infrastructure and the development of reforms, decentralization, the social security system, the improvement of the work of local governments, etc (Durman, Durman, Topalova, Grytsak & Zhiliaieva, 2021).
Today international technical assistance for Ukrainian NGOs is often the main driver of civil society development. Among such NGOs is the Institute of Political Education. The Institute of Political Education (IPE, 2021) as a public organization was founded in 2001 at the initiative of young people. In 2010, the Institute of Political Education acquired the status of an all-Ukrainian organization.
During its existence, IPE has become the author and implemented a number of different projects aimed at the development of democracy and the formation of civil society in Ukraine. The mission of the IPE is the political education of Ukrainian society, the development of local self-government and parliamentarism, the European integration of Ukraine, and the establishment of democratic values. One of the latest projects, «Powerful councils - capable communities», was a project implemented with the support of the program «U-LEAD with Europe» (U-LEAD with Europe, 2021) for raising the level of political awareness, theoretical knowledge and practical skills of amalgamated hromadas’s Deputies. U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme – a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member States Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Slovenia.
As of the start date of the Project (August 2018), there were 731 AHs established (and their number was constantly growing). Accordingly, more than 15 000 of the newly elected Deputies of AHs’ Councils were working in the situation of constantly changing legislative base of the Local Self-Government. In such a situation, there was a need to provide comprehensive training for Elected Members of AHs Councils and invest in the creation of sustainable training.
Within the Project it was planned to:
- select 12 fixed groups of Deputies of AHs across Ukraine, 25 persons in each;
- organize three Seminars on the following topics:
- Status, authority and duties of AHs Deputies;
- Participation of Deputies in the process of the AHs' budget formation, implementation and control;
- Capabilities and duties of AHs Deputies in housing and land issues.
In total 37 training events were organized for the AH Deputies. The total number of AH’s Deputies who have been trained during the Project implementation is 270. The selected Participants represented 158 AH of all regions of Ukraine. 3 Oblasts (Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Zaporizhzhya Oblasts) were represented by the largest number of Participants, and 2 Oblasts (Lugansk and Zakarpattya Oblasts) were represented by the least number of Participants. The above tendency could be explained by several factors. In particular:
- the difference in intensity of AHs creation within different regions of Ukraine (in some areas the process of AHs formation is going fast, in others it significantly slows down);
- time of creation (some of them have been existing for several years and others have just been created).
It is important to note that during each seminar, apart from the thematic block, a lot of time was devoted to issues of personal development (personal image, public speaking, ability to persuade, debate, etc.). These factors indicate that the Participants of the Project - the AH Deputies - will now be able not only to better manage issues of status, rights and responsibilities, peculiarities of the budget process, land and housing and municipal spheres, but also to better convey their opinion, defend their position, effectively communicate with opponents, voters, etc.
While summarizing each event and completing the questionnaires, many Deputies focused their attention on the fact that, finally, their education was initiated. The overwhelming majority of Deputies have been trained for the first time in their lives, and they were especially grateful both to the IPE and U-LEAD with Europe for the opportunity to take part in trainings. However, a series of the three-day seminars does not allow to fully disclose even the announced topics. The Experts that were involved in the Project confirm that the Deputies continue to address them on various issues, both by e-mail and by phone. It should also be noted that there was a large scope of humanitarian policy (culture, health, sports, etc.) outside the topics of the seminars.
The Project tried to focus on Deputies from the recently amalgamated Hromadas. This allowed the Project to promote decentralization reform and support changes in Hromadas development. The trainings were so useful and successful from the point of view of the Participants that they distributed information about the next waves of trainings to their fellow colleagues from the same AHs. As a result, IPE received more quality applications from AHs deputies of which already took part in the training under first or second waves.
Participation of 270 AH Deputies of the Local Councils in training seminars of the U-LEAD Project “Powerful Councils - Capable Communities”, are of course very important, as there is high expectation that they will apply theoretical knowledge and practical skills to the benefit of their communities. However, at the national and local levels, the political education of local Advisors requires much greater attention and legislative regulation, backed by a financial component. At present, these issues are addressed by single parties and, to a large extent, by non-governmental organizations, such as the Institute of Political Education, mainly at the expense of international donor organizations.
The experience of the Institute of Political Education indicates that active participants in trainings have constant contacts with our organization in general and our experts in particular. We hope that our activities will help them both in their work at the local level and in their political growth. In the current situation, we look forward to cooperation with the AH Deputies (i.e. participants of the project "Powerful Councils - Capable Communities" and their colleagues) also after completion of the Project. We hope that they will follow our new initiatives in the local self-government area, and will be involved in their implementation.