Ukraine’s desire to achieve democratic European standards and obligations under the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union necessitates the introduction of new practices of cooperation between public authorities, local governments and local residents. Such new practices should be the instruments of local democracy, which have proven themselves in the countries of the European Union. Therefore, the project is designed to promote the development of mechanisms and tools of local democracy in Ukraine on the basis of European experience.

However, the use of instruments of local democracy to address local issues in Ukraine remains insufficient due to the following factors: lack of proper legal regulation of these instruments, lack of public awareness of existing instruments,

traditional low activity of citizens. An additional problem is the lack of professional staff at the level of local selfgovernment bodies, which should promote the introduction of local democracy instruments.

The project should help solve the above problems. The implementation of this mission will have positive and lasting consequences for the citizens, local deputies and local government officials involved, will promote the knowledge of

existing instruments of local democracy and the acquisition of practical skills for their implementation.

The project team focuses its activities on training of pro-European-oriented specialists and promotion of European best practies of local democracy.