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Council of Europe: Local Democracy development in Ukraine

Programme “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation in Ukraine”

2015 – 2018 | within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017 with the earmarked financial support of the Government of the Swiss Confederation

About Programme

In July 2015 – February 2018 the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform (Directorate General of Democracy (DGII) of the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe) implemented the Programme “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation in Ukraine”.

The Programme was implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017 with the earmarked financial support of the Government of the Swiss Confederation. The Programme continued to support democratic governance reforms in Ukraine launched by the previous Council of Europe programmes.

Goal and areas

Overall objective:

A sustainable local governance system is established in Ukraine by improving the legal and institutional framework, consolidating the territory of the local governments and enhancing the authorities’ capacities at national and local levels to deliver reforms.

What were the Programme areas?
The Programme was composed of two inter-related components:

1. Decentralisation and territorial consolidation.
2. Efficient local authorities.

The Programme built very close working relations with the Special Adviser to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralisation, Mr Daniel Popescu, who was appointed (from April 2016 until the end of 2017) by the CoE Secretary General at the request of the Government of Ukraine.

Results and follow-up

More than 20 legal opinions and overviews were prepared within the Programme (see here).

On March 2018 following the implementation of the Programme and at the request of the Government of Ukraine a new co-operation Programme “Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine” was launched under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2018-2020.