Local Self-Government Day at Karazin University

On December 7th, Ukraine celebrates Local Self-Government Day. The Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service of the Institute of Public Administration at Karazin University traditionally organized communicative events on the occasion of this holiday.

A roundtable discussion on "Local Self-Government in the Conditions of Martial Law: Problems and Perspectives" took place in both online and offline formats in one of the new auditoriums equipped by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the project "Democratic Governance in Eastern Ukraine" (DG East).

The opening remarks at the event were delivered by the university's Vice-Rector Anatoliy Babichev and the Director of the Institute of Public Administration at Karazin University, Lyudmila Byelova. The session was moderated by Professor Yuriy Kuts, a member of the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service.

During the roundtable, urgent issues of local self-government development in the conditions of martial law in Ukraine were discussed, along with the prospects for the development of territorial communities in the post-war period.

The presentations of development projects prepared by working groups of territorial communities were also a topic of discussion. Specifically, the projects were presented by:

• Zmiiv Territorial Community of Kharkiv Oblast, presented by Victoria Kovalova, Chief Specialist of the Department of Economic Development and Investment of Zmiiv City Council.
• Merefa Territorial Community, presented by Oksana Fedishina, Head of the Department of Agriculture Development of the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.
• Solonianska Territorial Community of Kharkiv Oblast, presented by Natalia Plotnik, Director of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports of the Solonianska Village Council.
• Rohanska Territorial Community of Kharkiv Oblast, presented by Mykola Kotelevets, Deputy Rohanska Village Head on Humanitarian Affairs and Socio-Economic Policy.

A total of 78 participants, including deputies of village, town, and city councils, deputies of district councils, deputies of the Kharkiv Regional Council, and students of the master's program in Public Administration and Administration, took part in the discussion.

The result of the fruitful work was the exchange of best practices in implementing innovative projects at the level of territorial communities, exploring the scientific discourse on current issues of local self-government development in Ukraine under martial law, summarizing domestic and international experience in local self-government development, and formulating proposals to increase the efficiency of the representative body of local self-government in conditions of military aggression by the Russian Federation.

As part of Local Self-Government Day, an intellectual team game called "Urban Quiz" was organized for students of the Institute of Public Administration. The participants faced interesting and interactive tasks during the game.