This was stated at the Reforms Forum: on the way to Vilnius by Roland Kovats, USAID/ENGAGE Chief of Party. These data were obtained from the National Civic Engagement Poll conducted in Ukraine since 2015.
This year’s results showed rather active level of citizen engagement, especially at the local level. Thus, 33% of respondents indicated that they were active in solving their community’s problems – this indicator increased by 3% compared to 2018. At the same time, the participation of active citizens in the activities of CSOs remains insignificant – only 15% of respondents are engaged in the work of CSOs with some regularity. This is an important signal for civil society demonstrating the potential for citizen engagement at the local and regional levels.
“Participation and engagement is not just about elections, referendums or citizens’ legislative initiatives. Our civil society partners need to help citizens decide how they manage their own daily lives so that they understand whether they are ready to take responsibility for implementing these decisions. ” – emphasized Roland Kovats.
The Reform Forum is being held in preparation for the Ukraine Reform Conference, which is a key annual international event dedicated to the expert discussion of reform progress in Ukraine. The event is organized by the RPR coalition in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Ukraine with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine, the EU-Justice Project, the International Renaissance Foundation, the USAID/ENGAGE activity implemented by Pact and «Civil Society for Enhanced Democracy and Human Rights in Ukraine» project implemented by UNDP Ukraine under financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.