The training programme ‘Steps for professionals. Participation of municipality residents in addressing local issues’ included not only theoretical and practical sessions, but also a visit to communities in Volyn. Read on to find out what inspired the deputy head of Rozdilna community to create a School for Youth during the training and exchange of experiences.

In August 2025, representatives from more than 60 communities throughout Ukraine started training under the programme “Steps for specialists. Participation of municipality residents in addressing local issues”. During five weeks, the participants did not simply study, but confidently progressed through the “steps of participation”: from basic information to real partnership between local authorities and the community, learning about the new provisions of the law on people’s self-government at the local self-government level.

‘We offered local government representatives a programme designed to help them understand how the level of residents’ participation and engagement affects trust and community development, which local regulations govern this, and what needs to be updated or adopted? And to consolidate their knowledge, we presented practical case studies of different forms of participation and interaction in communities in Volyn region, whose representatives willingly shared their experiences with our participants,’ said Mykhailo Shelep, Advisor on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government at U-LEAD with Europe Regional Office in Rivne region.

The 20 participants in the study visit included Olha Bosiuk, First Deputy Mayor of Rozdilna. She said she had taken part in the programme to discover new approaches to communication and engagement with residents.

‘Our community has plenty of channels for providing information, and we are always open to communication. However, this does not always guarantee that residents will want to use the available e-democracy tools or that they will engage in surveys, discussions or other activities. Therefore, we expressed interest in U-LEAD training programme,’ she noted.

The training led to decisions which Olha Bosiuk describes as having worked “straight away”. The community adopted a charter in which provisions on public hearings were enshrined as a mandatory annex. They also adopted regulations on participatory budgeting and inclusive school participatory budgeting, which will be launched in the near future.

‘We had planned to introduce these tools for public participation, but then the full-scale war broke out and it seemed they were not a priority, so we put these decisions on hold. However, the experience of communities in Volyn region has shown that these tools can work effectively even during wartime. So we are now preparing to launch a call for project proposals,’ said the First Deputy Mayor of Rozdilna.

During the visit, the participants visited Vyshniv, Shatsk, Novovolynsk, and Lutsk communities, where they learnt about examples of effective cooperation between local authorities and local residents, the work of youth centres and advisory bodies, and saw first-hand how residents participate in the allocation of local budget funds.

Among other things, in Novovolynsk community, the participants were shown the work of the civic engagement centre, created on the premises of the public library. Its manager spoke about different activities and initiatives (ranging from language courses to voluntary work) and explained the principle that anyone can come along and suggest their own idea or event, or run a training session (free of charge, of course).

‘Listening to how this works, I thought about our own context: residents often confuse the powers of local self-government and do not know exactly which tools for participation they can use or where to turn. This is how the idea for a course on local self-government and forms of civic participation for the youth came about. I am convinced that young people are the first ones we should start with. Because they can tell their parents at home and spread the idea further,’ said Olha Bosiuk.

On her return home, she recorded a video message and launched the online registration process. During two weeks, 14 keen and motivated participants signed up, as knowledge does not “stick” without motivation. The course at the School of Local Self-Government consisted of eight sessions, held once a week.

Olha Bosiuk conducted the training sessions herself, having extensive practical experience in local self-government as well as knowledge gained from the online course “Forms of territorial community participation in resolving issues of local importance: the top 7 basic forms of participation”.

‘I have long wanted to explain to young people, in “plain language”, the important aspects of local self-government that I myself had to learn as an adult,’ she remarked.

The aim was not to “give a lecture”, but to explain how the community works, how decisions are made, how residents and young people can have an influence, how the budget is drawn up, and how to communicate with the authorities. The theory was mastered through discussions, meetings, and practical tasks. The participants “mapped out the community”, role-played as the head and councillors, “allocated the budget” using hypothetical funds and justified their priorities, and presented their own youth initiatives. Interestingly, some of the participants were already members of the youth council, and for them, the training at the School served as an additional resource for understanding their role.

Simple yet effective insights proved to be a particular highlight of the course. Olha Bosiuk cites the example of the “resident’s corner” on the community website: it came as a surprise to the young people that it was “very easy to submit a request” there. She suggested doing this directly from a mobile phone, and the teenagers realised that they could quickly report a problem and leave their contact details to receive a reply. In her view, such measures transform “local authorities” into a practical channel for communication, and trust is built when issues are “worked through with the community” and residents feel involved in the decision-making process.

Yuliia Marchenko, Head of the Youth Council at Rozdilna City Council, commented:

‘During the course, we covered practical matters. We now understand how to submit petitions, how to communicate with the council and councillors, how to develop projects and seek funding for them, and with the introduction of participatory budgeting, we will be able to submit our initiatives for consideration.’ She is convinced that such knowledge and skills are useful for young people, who have become more engaged over the past two months. According to Yuliia, the young activists plan to register a civil society organisation and hold joint events with the Youth Council and representatives of local and school self-government bodies to develop youth policy in the community.

According to Oleh Zasoba, a member of the Youth Council, young people in the community have begun to come together, and the School has played a key role in this. He himself also participated in the training programme and now plans to conduct “Know Your Rights” workshops for senior high school students and to get involved in the development of the community organisation and project work.

‘I saw that there are young people in the community who are really interested in projects and developing local spaces. We realised that we can work together with the local council and that we need to unite. Learning the basics of local self-government has had a positive impact on young people; they are not afraid of the authorities and are ready to cooperate – so the first steps have already been taken,’ said Oleh.

Olha Bosiuk explained that, for her, such enthusiasm among young people and their realisation of their own potential came as a real surprise and inspired her to continue this educational work. Her next goal, therefore, is to gradually conduct similar training sessions in the starosta districts of the community. ‘There are active children and young people everywhere; they just need a little push,’ she is convinced.