28 September 2006
Drohobych

First Compact within the Democratising Ukraine Programme Inked in Drohobych

On 21 September, Drohobych saw a ceremonious signing of a Compact that represented an agreement between Drohobych City Council and local civic organisations on principles, terms and conditions, and main forms of cooperation. The Compact has been based on a mutual understanding of the role and values of the community, and of the tasks the civic organisations have in respect of solving standing issues of the town of Drohobych.

The signing of that document was initiated by Drohobych Mayor Mykola Huk and the Coalition of Civic organisations ‘Territorial Community Resource Centre’ that operates within the framework of the Democratising Ukraine Programme. The objective of the Compact is to institute and expand an open and transparent cooperation between the government, community representatives, civic organisations, and public business associations.

The body of the document stipulates that the relations between the civil community and the government shall be promoted based on the principles of the rule of law, equality, openness, partnership, and trust. According to Compact provisions, the civic organisations shall enjoy the right of using all available mechanisms to lobby draft administrative decisions for the purpose of protection of their own rights.

Tasks of the Compact:

1) To assist the process of openness and transparency in Drohobych local government operations;

2) To assure civil participation in the decisions-making processes of the local self-government;

3) To set up partnership collaboration between Drohobych municipal authorities and the civic organisations;

4) To involve the intellectual capacities of the civic organisations into the assessment of local issues and exploration of the most favourable ways of resolving them.

As the Compact is not a regulatory deed under the law in force, all disputes, if any, that may arise by and between its parties in relation to its performance, shall be settled via public negotiations and further specification of reached agreements in separate contracts.

One should conveniently note here the complex and minute work on studying the experience of different countries in implementing similar documents, a series of workshops and consultations with domestic and international experts on possibilities of public and community sectors interaction mechanisms implementation in Ukraine, negotiations with local government representatives and publications in the local media about the benefits the signing of the Compact would mean for the local community that preceded the inking of this Compact.

This Compact has been envisaged to allow a more efficient informing of the local self-government about the needs of citizens and civic organisations, assure mutual understanding and collaboration between the authorities and civic organisations, assist in the performance of governmental and local programmes targeted on solving community issues, contribute to the assurance of civil rights and freedoms and to civic organisations control over such rights and freedoms consideration by the local self-government.

The Compact initialled in Drohobych has come to be probably the first deed in Ukraine to formally confirm mutual cooperation intentions of the two sectors.

It would be also worth to mention that similar contracts are expected to be signed in Chervonohrad soon and later on, in all other DU communities.

Olena Goliuk,
PR and Outreach Manager