The work of local self-governments, providing services to citizens, is full of challenges. Working with representatives of Ukrainian cities for more than three years now, the project “Local Self-Government and Rule of Law in Ukraine”, implemented by the Folke Bernadotte Academy – the Swedish government agency – with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), helps local officials deal with non-standard tasks by means of the rule of law .

The research, in which we interviewed over 6,000 users of admininistrative services and service providers, has shown that most of the employees face the following challenges:

7 challenges most often experienced by local self-government bodies when providing services to citizens

1. 47% of employees or do not have information about new laws related to their activities, or mostly do not have such information.

2. 58% of employees encountered situations where the law does not provide sufficient guidance as to how to make a decision.

3. 73% of employees do not have a clear understanding of how to deal with situations where there is a conflict of interest.

4. 64% of consumers of services are one way or another confident that the employees of the Administrative Service Centres would try to help in a case involving a person close to them.

5. There are no regular trainings, seminars on explanations of legislative changes, conduct and decision-making instructions in various situations.

6. Officials are often forced to prepare official documents themselves at their own discretion and to make daily decisions in situations where there are no clearly specified instructions.

7. There is no feedback on practical interpretation, obtaining of relevant explanations regarding the implementation / execution of the adopted laws and regulatory acts in practice, in real situations with real consumers.

Representatives of the project began monitoring and collecting information on situations that can become challenges for the employees of ASCs and other local agencies that provide services to citizens, and preparing proposals for their solution in terms of the rule of law and legislation of Ukraine.

Thus, if you face unusual situation not regulated by law or regulated, but not sufficiently clear, tell us about it.

Please, fill in this QUESTIONNAIRE

More information on the project “Local Self-Government and Rule of Law in Ukraine” is available by the link

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE