The final online conference of the “Parliament for the Village” project

On August 21, 2024, the final online conference of the project “Parliament for Rural Communities: Democratic Representation and Effective Interaction under Martial Law” was held within the framework of the USAID RADA: Next Generation Program.
The project team, consisting of Inna Velychko, Elmira Maslova, Volodymyr Trilis, and Inna Tarabarova, presented for several months in the communities of Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions, as well as in the format of online meetings, held public consultations with the participation of owners of rural green tourism estates, heads of territorial communities, starostas of starosta districts, experts, and community residents. During the meetings, the issues and initiatives that will contribute to the improvement and popularization of rural green tourism in Ukraine were discussed, and proposals for the development of the Law on Rural Green Tourism were developed. During the event, the results of a sociological survey conducted by the team throughout the project were presented. The project participants shared their experience of communicating with government officials, as well as the results of the activities.

The online conference provided an opportunity to summarize the results of the project “Parliament for Rural Areas: Rural Legal Awareness as a Tool to Influence Decision-Making,” discuss changes to legislative documents, and outline further steps to develop rural green tourism in Ukraine. The event was attended by more than 100 people, including representatives of local communities and owners of rural green estates.

Through the project’s activities, the team raised awareness of the rural population about the legal framework for interaction with state and local governments, and provided practical recommendations for effective communication with the deputy corps to address pressing community issues and promote their sustainable development. The experience of many years of activity of the Union of Ukrainian Trade Unions shows that residents of territorial communities have extremely low legal awareness, in particular, in the field of cooperation with MPs and parliamentary structures and advocacy of their needs at the parliamentary level. These initiatives are important for strengthening democracy and improving the quality of interaction between citizens and the government in Ukraine. It is important to inform local activists about the various forms of cooperation with MPs of Ukraine, which is a step towards improving the systemic interaction between political representatives and their constituents. This allows citizens to better understand their rights, influence decision-making and actively cooperate with the authorities to achieve common goals.