Participants of the discussion: hromadas representatives, experts of the PROSTO Project and other international organizations
On 16 and 17 November, the Swedish-Ukrainian project PROSTO " Support to Service Accessibility in Ukraine" together with specialists working or involved in informing residents in hromadas discussed challenges and approaches to involving residents in the recovery process.
"The restoration of Ukraine is a huge task and local governments have a central role to play. They are the link that ensures that the voice of ordinary citizens is heard. Sweden will continue to support the development of hromadas and Ukraine’s efforts to decentralize", stated John Runeson, First Secretary Embassy of Sweden to Ukraine in his welcoming speech.
Jon Runeson, First Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden to Ukraine
On 16 November, representatives of 20 liberated and war-affected hromadas worked with experts in a working session with trainings on organising a system of informing and engaging residents, using dialogue practices, and identifying material and technical needs to establish information and engagement in the hromada.
Participants of the mini-conference on November 16: representatives of 20 liberated and affected hromadas together with experts from the PROSTO Project
On 17 November, with the participation of PROSTO's partner hromadas, was held a conference on "Involvement of residents in hromada reconstruction and communication in crisis" during which participants, together with experts from Ukraine and Sweden, representatives of the Government, civil society and the donor community, shared their experiences and discussed challenges and approaches to involving the population in hromada reconstruction.
Pavlo Pushchenko, PROSTO Project expert
During the event, was presented the manual "Informing the population in crisis conditions. Involvement of hromada residents in the reconstruction processes", developed by the Project experts. The manual examines tools and approaches to public information and engagement during war time, taking into account legislative regulation and other restrictions. It outlines the main changes in wartime communication, with a focus on strategic planning and the principles of informing and dialogue with residents in hromadas with different security situations. The manual also describes international experience in the field of resident engagement, using the approaches used in Sweden and other EU member states as examples. A separate section of the manual is devoted to the fundamental aspects of international experience in crisis communications.
"Open and transparency communication, in order to involve residents in decision-making during military challenges and reconstruction, is the basis for the effective restoration of Ukraine. We are grateful to the international partners who pay attention to this issue and help to create proper conditions for the development of democracy at the local level", highlighted Oleksandra Azarkhina, Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine, in the preface to the Manual.
The conference was also attended by experts from Stockholm: Nils Munte, an expert at SALAR International, and Henrik Olinger, a senior expert at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, shared their experience on how to make an institution capable of working with participatory tools, and spoke about crisis communication trends and approaches to mitigating crises in local communities.
Nils Munte, SALAR International expert
Participants of the panel discussion: Nataliya Velychko, USAID HOVERLA Project capacity building and advocacy specialist, Volodymyr Kupriy, USAID DOBRE Program public engagement expert, Ivan Verbytskyi, director of the CEDOS Analytical Center, Sofya Sakalosh, coordinator of implementation of digital tools in hromadas of the EGAP Project
Maksym Latsyba, Head of the Civil Society Development Programme at the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research
Participants of the panel discussion: moderator, Pavlo Pushchenko, engagement expert of the PROSTO Project, Dmytro Turchak, Director of the Department of Strategic Planning and Regional Policy of the Ministry of Hromadas, Territorial and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Maksym Latsyba, Head of the Civil Society Development Programme at the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, Anastasia Mazurok, Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International, Andriy Holovach, Head of the Kyivska hromada in Chernihiv Oblast, Tetiana Maksymova, specialist of the Department of Economic Development, Investment, International Cooperation, Communication and Tourism of Rohan hromada, Kharkiv oblast
Networking "hanging questions"