Consultations with the public and stakeholders: methodological and practical recommendations
Within the framework of the Good Governance Program, experts and participants of the Program developed Methodological and Practical Recommendations and Regulations on local self-government consultations with the public and stakeholders.
The recommendations are based on the principles of good democratic governance, the experience of The Aspen Institute Kyiv in consulting with stakeholders on decentralization reform from October 2019 to April 2020. The recommendations take into account the regulation of public consultations and best international practices for stakeholder involvement in policy development.
The Annexes to the Recommendations are the Regulations on Consultations, as well as examples of decisions of those local governments that are actively implementing the consultation tool, versions of regulatory and organizational documents necessary for comprehensive support of consultations.
The Regulation defines the basic principles of organizing and conducting consultations by local self-government bodies on issues within their competence. It contains a separate section devoted to stakeholder consultation, which is a novelty for Ukrainian governance practices.
At the national level, the issue of stakeholder consultations is regulated in the Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which go into effect on January 1, 2021 (approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on February 26, 2020 № 168). The new Regulation proposes targeted consultations aimed at clarifying the positions of stakeholders on the draft public policy concept.
The principles of targeted consultations proposed in the Regulations are adapted by experts and participants of the Good Governance Program to the realities of local self-government activities and solving problems of local level.
After the local elections on October 25, 2020, 1441 village, settlement, city councils will function in Ukraine (instead of 10147 as of 01.01.2015) with a significant range of decentralized powers, increased resources and responsibility for local development results, efficiency of local policy, provision of quality services to residents of territorial communities.
Consultations as a tool of participatory democracy increase trust in government and its effectiveness, form a sense of responsibility of decisions, allow for effective dialogue between government and community, increase transparency, predictability, validity and quality of decisions made by local governments.
Spreading a culture of dialogue as a prerequisite for good governance is an important part of the mission of The Aspen Institute in Kyiv.
We invite you to download Methodical and Practical Recommendations and Regulations.
Experts and participants of the Good Governance Program can provide advisory support in the implementation of the institute of counseling in the communities, the contact person for the implementation of the counseling proposal – Olena Fomina, Manager of the Good Governance Program, email: of@aspeninstitutekyiv.org.
The Good Governance program is being developed with the support of a grant from Luminate and National Endowment for Democracy.
