TERRITORIAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS: DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCES

Abstract

The role and importance of the participation of the territorial community in the provision system and development support. With this purpose, we examined the concept of participation, typology, and levels of participation. It was found that the participation of the local community is the basis for building a comprehensive system to ensure and support the development of local communities. The basic types of relationships that can be formed in this system: from information to direct participation in the processes of development of territorial communities. We revealed a direct correlation between the participation of the population, namely the inclusion in the system of ensuring and supporting the development of territorial communities, as a direct active participant, and the level of welfare and quality of life of territorial communities in Ukraine.

We investigated the possibilities of participation and involvement of the population in the processes of development of territorial communities, for that we analyzed the existing legislative and regulatory framework for this issue and the willingness of the members of territorial communities to be active elements in the system of ensuring and supporting the development of territorial communities. It is revealed that the main types of participation of the population in Ukraine according to the legislation are: the general meeting of citizens by place of residence; local initiatives, public hearing, local referendum. It was found that the presence of these forms of local democracy do not guarantee the active participation of the Ukrainian population in the decision-making processes and monitoring of their implementation through a number of reasons: absence or imperfect development of territorial charters; low level of awareness of the population regarding their rights; a weak inverse relationship between local authorities and population; and low motivation of government authorities to enhance the involvement of members of local communities. We found out that the “ladder of participation” the degree of participation of Ukrainian communities can include such levels as “lack of participation” and “visibility of participation”. It was revealed that there is a need to improve communication networks between local authorities and members of the territorial community for informing, consultation, involvement in decisionmaking and control over their implementation.