Can local development and citizen engagement set Ukraine on a new democratic and economic path?

Neil Webster and Adam Moe Fejerskov were commissioned by UNDP to conduct an assessment of the Community-Based Approach to Local Development (CBA) Project in Ukraine. A national programme, it began in a context firmly shaped by Soviet style central planning and top-down implemented development. Its aim was to engage local communities in small projects.

However, after the Maidan Revolution of 2013-2014, phase III of the CBA project has taken on a much greater significance as the country and its government seek to improve local government service provision and to promote a more inclusive local economic development, within a national framework of devolved local governance.

The report assesses these changes and discusses ways in which the intervention’s approach could be carried forward as a part of the broader strategy on decentralisation and local development in Ukraine today.