Creating the conditions for adequate participation of the public of Kirovograd region in state governance by using the possibilities of public expertise

The initiative of Creative union “TORO” is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the activists of public organizations of Kirovograd region to effect public policy development by raising the quality of holding the public consultations at the level of local state administrations of Kirovograd region.

Throughout the recent five years the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) has created a sufficient legal framework, which allows the NGOs to take active part in the development and realization of state policy. The innovations include: the institute of public councils, the instrument of public expertise, the order of public consultations conduction and etc. However, the introduction of all these mechanisms has not quickly resultated in massive and deep participation of the public of Kirovogradshyna in governance.

In the opinion of  Creative union “TORO” experts the reasons for such situation are:

• ignoration of the position of the public by the local authorities when implementing the state policy;
• profanation of the idea of public participation because of pseudo public councils creation;
• low competence of civil activists in certain aspects;
• the advisory nature of CMU Resolutions at the level of local selfgovernance.

So, as for today, we can tell that holding consultations with the public has not yet become systematic and the public itself knows little of the possibilities, that the participation in public consultations and the public expertise provide. An effective solving of this problem might be in a revision of the public consultations procedure, using a client-oriented approach. This will allow to create sound conditions for the active participation of the public in governance and start the process of civil evaluation of the effectiveness of local authorities work.

The goal of the initiative is: to enhance the capacity of the activists of public organizations of Kirovograd region to effect public policy development by raising the quality of holding the public consultations at the level of local state administrations of Kirovograd region.

The tasks that will be solved within the project:

• establishing a Consortium of Kirovograd region NGOs for performing independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public;
• composing the methodology and defining instruments of the campaign for performing independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public and teaching the Consortium members to use it;
• performing of the independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public by the Consortium;
• preparation of expert report on the results of the evalutation and addressing it to the local authorities of district and regional level;
• running a campaign of public pressure for changing the procedure of public consultations by those local authorities chosen for the evaluation.

Expected results of the initiative:

• 6 plans of holding consultations with the public for 2011 include the results if the independent evaluation and are based on the recommendations of the performed public expertise (5 of a district level and one – regional);
• civic activists of the regional level know and use the instrument of civic expertise when running campaigns of public control;
• at least 10 civic activists of the district level know and use the instrument of civic expertise, the results of which are handed in a brochure with the results of independent public evaluation.

July 2010

We plan to initiate a creation of Consortium of NGOs of Kirovograd region for performing independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public. Consortium will be formalized by members signing up a Memorandum of joint activities. The main task of the Consortium will be performing the independent evaluation of the executive local authorities of the district and regional level work regarding the consultations with the public via a defined methodology and promoting the results of the evaluation at the local level.

August - September 2010

This period will be dedicated to composing the methodology and the instruments of the campaign for performing independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public. After studying the public priority areas of state policy and based on the arrangements for consultations with the public, the involved experts will prepare the methodology of the evaluation. This methodology will include the instruments of public expertise and public monitoring. The developed methodology and the instruments will be presented to the members of Consortium.

October 2010

In this month the teaching of Consortium members to use the instruments for performing independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public will take place. The developers of the methodology and the instrumentarium shall be the tutors. During this training the Consortium members will be introduced to all of the instruments for the effective public activity and control in detail. The trainees will also practice some model situations, that require using some separate instruments of evaluation. The seminar will last for three days and will involve studying the instruments as well as planning the local evaluation campaigns.

October - December 2010

For about three month the members of Consortium will carry out the complex independent evaluation of the process of consultations with the public by 5 district state administrations and the regional state administration in Kirovograd.

December 2010 - January 2011

This is the time set for the preparation of the expert report on the results of the evalutation and addressing it to the local authorities of district and regional level. Authorized members of the Consortium will generalize the results of the evaluation and prepare the expert conclusion regarding the activities of local executive authorities as to holding consultations with the public. It is expected that the prepared report and conclusion will be handed to the local auhtorities for consideration in the order provided by the Procedure of public expertise conduction. In addition, the conclusion will be published on-line at “Civic Expert Desktop” in the rubric “Conducted civic expertise”. The conclusion will also be placed at the Consortium members sites.

January– March 2011

Running an advocacy campaign aimed at  changing the procedure of public consultations planned for 2011. In particular, the Procedure of public expertise conduction implies that the executive authority, that has supported a civic conclusion, must review it publicly within two weeks term at its board together with the expertise initiators. Given this, it is expected that such a review will take place in 5 district and the regional state administration with a mandatory participation of the authorized Consortium representatives.

For more info adress
tel. 0522 27 27 54; 0522 27 23 17;
e-mail: ;
contact person – Alla Voloshyna.

Partners

• Department of Inner Policy and Public Relations of Kirovohrad regional state administration
• International Fund ”Vidrodshennya/Rennaissance”

---