In 2017-2019, the think tank CEDOS examined the interaction of municipal authorities with civil society, as well as decision-making processes in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv. What decision-making mechanisms take into account the needs of residents? What practices are the best in this area? What should be done to make the interaction more effective? To answer these questions, we interviewed public sector officials and representatives and also analyzed the local strategic documents. The result of the research is a set of practical recommendations to overcome interaction obstacles between civil society and civil servants. They are quite versatile and could be applied in different cities.

The study was carried out within the framework of the "Strengthening Civic Participation in Ukrainian Cities" project with the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Illustrations by Roman Ruban

Although the text on the images uses only feminine gender-based endings, we are referring to everyone: activists, workers and city residents. To make the text easy to read, we have used the feminine gender only to denote people of different genders and balance the predominant usage of masculine endings that exists in the Ukrainian information space.

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