Grassroots democracy discussed between Ukrainian young local leaders and representatives of Strasbourg Eurometropole and Alsace region

17 November 2015

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is organising a study visit with the aim to empower young local leaders to foster grassroots democracy in Ukraine, in Strasbourg, from 16 to 21 November 2015.

This study visit aims to provide participants with insight on inter-municipal and transfrontier cooperation and enable them to identify best practices of local and regional democracy. In particular, they will get acquainted with different modalities and structures of co-operation and discover the opportunities and challenges regarding policy-making, through interactive exchanges with local elected representatives.

In this regard, the participants will meet representatives from the Eurometropole (Strasbourg), Alsace Region (France), Eurodistrict, the Agency for Economic Development of the Lower-Rhine (ADIRA), as well as to take part in the fourth World Forum for Democracy (Strasbourg, 18 - 20 November 2015).

The group includes local councillors, leaders of NGOs and youth organisations, as well as political, civil society and media activists, who are strongly engaged in social and political activities in various regions of Ukraine.

The study visit is a follow-up to a series of five regional seminars organised in Ukraine (Truskavets, Chernihiv, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv) since July 2014, and is part of the new project “Promoting local democracy in Ukraine” implemented by the Congress of local and regional authorities within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.