Experts of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme completed the support programme "Development and Implementation of the Public Budget”. The training initiative spanned five months, and its participants represented 16 municipalities selected following an open competition.
“For five months, the participants were gaining knowledge and practical experience. They developed and approved local Regulations on the Public Budget with appendices, added relevant sections to the websites of their municipalities and developed outreach messages to ensure public engagement. Plans have also been developed for the implementation of municipal residents’ projects submitted as part of public budgets,” said Liudmyla Hurba, Head of the Working Group on Public Participation and Coordinator of the Support Programme “Development and Implementation of the Public Budget”, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Vinnytsia Oblast
The support programme was designed to strengthen professional competencies among municipal officials in terms of the use of methods and tools for the introduction of the public budget. The initiative consisted of 5 seminars, 3 workshops and group consultations.
According to Liudmyla Hurba, at the final seminar, experts and participants presented the intermediate results of their efforts. The discussion focused on the challenges and further steps in the introduction of public budgets in municipalities under martial law:
“We gave an initial boost to the participating municipalities, and they should continue to work on this public engagement tool. The municipalities noted that they managed to fulfil the key task of the training programme, which was to increase public participation in solving local issues, so that every resident felt involved in the distribution of funds from local budgets. Certain results have already been achieved, and municipalities are making progress on this path. For instance, when surveyed, the participants noted the increase in the local social activism and the growth of trust in the authorities regarding the use of funds from local budgets.”
She emphasised that U-LEAD experts would continue to support the participants of the “Development and Implementation of the Public Budget”:
“It is essential that this year the participating municipalities include the winning projects in the budget estimate and draft local budget for 2025, and are ready to implement them next year.”
Zoriana Hordiichuk, Head of the Financial Department of the Koropets Settlement Council, shared her experience of participating in the support programme:
“The support programme was most exciting and useful. Together with the team, we initiated the introduction of a public budget in our municipality of Koropets. We managed to work out the relevant Regulation and conduct a proper outreach and promotional campaign for the implementation of the public budget. We put a lot of effort into consultations with the public, the development of outreach messages and the cooperation with the project originators. Practical advice and expert knowledge gave us a clearer understanding of the process of implementing the public budget and helped us find effective solutions. Thanks to the expert and legal support, the Koropets settlement municipality gained new knowledge, mastered presenting messages correctly and learned new ideas, interesting methods and formats of work. We will use the valuable guidance acquired during the course to further develop our municipality.”
In addition to holding training events and consultations, U-LEAD experts prepared step-by-step instructions, draft resolution templates and other documents necessary for the introduction of a public budget. Support programme participants were able to receive these documents and use them in their work.
Tetiana Kovalyk, Head of the Economic Development and Investment Department of the Kobleve Village Council, said that they had already introduced a public budget earlier. However, in 2022, it was suspended due to the war:
“For me personally, all the information about this tool was new. Participation in the support programme gave me new practical knowledge, which led to the approval of the new Regulation on the Public Budget and a number of appendices to facilitate its implementation. Now we are already at the stage of accepting project applications from the local public. Residents of our municipality have been more and more engaged, and we have already received five applications. Several more projects are in the works. The selected winning projects will hopefully receive funding, and the public will see tangible results and write even more applications. Despite facing some backlash against introducing a public budget, we managed to come forward with the right message that pt people at ease.”
She reaffirmed her belief that even in the conditions of war, public participation and joining certain processes and events in the municipality are paramount. The public budget is an effective public engagement tool that allows you to see the development of the municipality from another perspective, through the lens of its residents, who come up with new ideas, which is extremely valuable.
U-LEAD advisers Liudmyla Hurba, Olena Savchenko and Tetiana Filatova worked on the implementation of the support programme “Development and Implementation of the Public Budget”.
Iryna Pukalova, Head of the Project Management, Investment and Digital Department of the Suvorov Settlement Council, summarised her participation in the programme as follows:
“In the beginning, we had no idea how the population would perceive our initiative to introduce a public budget, but later we realised that the changes are only for the better. People were reassured that there were changes in the municipality even in wartime, and they could take an active part in the process. The introduction of the public budget in the municipality inspired people. We did not expect to receive seven projects. Given that this is our first experience, we consider this result to be quite good. Participating in this support programme was very important for us because although our team wanted to implement municipality budgeting, we felt that we lacked certain knowledge and there were challenges that we could not handle on our own. In the course of seminars, workshops and communication with U-LEAD experts, we received a lot of useful guidance that helped us implement public budgeting in our municipality simultaneously with our training. We are happy that we were able to undergo this training.”