Representatives of youth organizations and associations, students, senior school students, as well as those working with youth, took part in the Stakeholders’ Forum on November 18.
The forum is part of the Rivne community’s preparation process for the Citizens’ Assembly, to be held in 2026, which is a mechanism of deliberative democracy. That is why the forum focused on the topic of how to make the Rivne community a place where young people want to stay and build their future.
"It is a pleasure to see so many inspired young people from our community today who want to change it and make it better. It is important for us to hear your thoughts on how to make our community a place where young people want to stay and build their future. The war is ongoing, and the community’s priorities include supporting our military, but at the same time, we are already thinking about what our Rivne community should look like after the war, about its development. And it is very encouraging that you, our youth, are joining this process," said Viktor Shakirzyan, Secretary of the City Council and Acting Mayor, during the opening of the forum.
"The Citizens’ Assembly is an innovative tool of deliberative democracy that allows citizens to develop recommendations for authorities on important community issues. We support the Rivne community in implementing this mechanism and believe that open discussions on how to encourage youth to stay, develop, and build their future here are strategically important for the sustainable development not only of this specific community but of the entire country," said Svitlana Hryshchenko, Head of the project “Strengthening Multilevel Governance and Local Democracy to Support Ukraine’s Recovery.”
For her part, Daryna Sokolova, Project Manager at the Council of Europe, focused on providing information about the Citizens’ Assembly as a whole and the results of the first assemblies in Ukraine, which took place in the Zviahel and Slavutych communities in 2024.
It should be noted that Rivne will become the first regional center in Ukraine where this deliberative democracy tool will be applied, a mechanism already popular in European countries.
During the event, participants discussed a number of questions, including:
- What are the key challenges and problems influencing young people’s decisions to leave the community?
- What are the main factors affecting young people’s desire to stay in the community?
- What needs to change or be created for young people to want to stay and develop in the community?
- What services and conditions could motivate youth to build their future in the Rivne community?
- How can the community better inform young people about opportunities, services, initiatives, and decisions?
All ideas and insights gathered during the forum will help identify four subtopics for the Citizens’ Assembly.
The preparation and implementation of the Citizens’ Assembly is carried out within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2023–2026 “Resilience, Recovery, and Reconstruction” under the project “Strengthening Multilevel Governance and Local Democracy to Support Ukraine’s Recovery,” implemented by the Centre of Expertise on Local and Regional Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
