We invite you to read the digest from the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research!
In the first issue for January-February 2025, you will learn about changes to legislation, public initiatives, analytical materials 👇
The President signed the Law 3703-IX “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Democracy at the Local Government Level”
This is a historic event that opens up new opportunities for citizens, and in particular for more than 4.6 million IDPs, as it equates them to community residents and will allow them to participate in decision-making and influence the life of the communities where they live.
The Law is also a significant step towards fulfilling our country's European integration commitments, as the European Commission in its 2024 report gives a positive opinion on the Law and emphasizes the need for the President to sign it.
Read more about the Law here.
What opportunities does the Law of Ukraine “On People's Power in Communities” open up: insights from the events
Maksym Latsyba, Head of the Civil Society Development Program, and Maksym Lukinyuk, a consultant on the development of public participation mechanisms, who are co-authors of the Law "On People's Power," spoke about the opportunities provided by the document for more than 430 representatives of the public sector.
They noted that thanks to the Law, each community, 1470 in Ukraine (including temporarily occupied communities and those with military administrations), will have public participation tools. These include local initiatives, general meetings, public hearings, participation in the planning and allocating of city budget funds, and other forms that local governments decide to introduce.
The events were organized for activists, members of IDP councils, and NGO representatives of the Zaporizhzhia region. More information and a recording of the broadcasts are available here.
UCIPR invites you to join the Coalition of Implementers, "Community Voice"
UCIPR invites civic activists and leaders to join the Community Voice Coalition to implement public participation procedures and increase transparency in the work of local self-government in all communities of Ukraine.
The Coalition plans to implement the provisions of the following three laws at the community level:
- "On Democracy at the Level of Local Self-Government" No. 3703-IX.
- “On Public Consultations No. 3841-IX.
- "On Ensuring Transparency of Local Self-Government No. 3590-IX.
To participate, please fill out the registration form here.
Innovations in the field of humanitarian aid: results of the seminar for CSOs of Zhytomyr region
Yulia Panura, a UCIPR expert on CSO taxation and charitable activities, held a seminar on innovations in humanitarian aid for representatives of CSOs in the Zhytomyr region.
They discussed the difficulties associated with the automated system of humanitarian aid accounting, which, despite its advantages, has vectors for improvement. In particular, correcting errors in reports is almost impossible, which creates additional risks for organizations. If the recipient discovers their mistakes in the report after a long time, they have to submit the reports again, which may look like a delay in reporting.
Find more information here.
Tax-free: the list of goods and services of charitable assistance has been expanded
Amendments have been made to CMU Resolution No. 112 “On Approval of the List of Funds, Goods (Works, Services), the Amount (Value) of Charitable Assistance for Purchase or in the Form of Which is Not Included in the Taxable Income of Individuals”.
From now on, there is an expanded list of goods and services of charitable assistance that can be transferred without taxation (personal income tax and withholding tax). UCIPR experts contributed to the drafting of the Resolution and its advocacy.
More information is available here, and the complete list of updates is available here.
Main challenges and solutions in the field of humanitarian aid: results of focus group discussions
UCIPR held a series of focus group meetings with representatives of humanitarian aid recipients, international donor organizations and government agencies responsible for administering the Automated Humanitarian Aid Registration System (AHAS).
The purpose of these discussions was to outline the range of problems faced by participants in the process of importing, accounting, distributing, and reporting on humanitarian aid and to find ways to solve them.
What was found out?
- the automated system contains a number of technical and administrative shortcomings, which causes delays in the delivery of humanitarian goods;
- donors and recipients face bureaucratic obstacles in preparing reports;
- difficulties in communication with the authorities and customs officials;
- lack of a clear mechanism for writing off humanitarian goods that have lost quality or become unusable.
The solutions proposed by stakeholders and the results of the discussions are available here.
How to strengthen community resilience in times of war? Results of the research
Yulia Tyshchenko, co-founder of the National Platform, noted that working with communities and their residents is one of the components of the civilian resilience formula that helps to solve problems in communities.
According to her, the resilience of Ukrainian local communities is based on actualized and strong social ties, solidarity, high adaptability of local governments in crisis situations, and the use of participatory democracy.
In her turn, UHHRU analyst Olena Semerkina highlighted the challenges that strengthen community resilience.
These include the high adaptability of local authorities, the presence of a significant number of international assistance projects in Ukraine, the widespread practice of organizing and operating informal networks, volunteer initiatives, and civil society institutions, the existence of sustainable practices of informal local communication, and the solidarity and initiative of community residents.
The study was conducted in eight regions of Ukraine, which have different (conditional) levels of security and different experiences of war, namely Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions.
The National Platform also held two more events on the main obstacles to resilience in 2025 and on the third anniversary of the full-scale war.
Follow our announcements and insights on the UCIPR website to keep abreast of the most important changes in legislation, CSO participation in public processes and key events in the sector.