This round table, supported by UNDP "Democratization, Human Rights and Civil Society Development" Project, was attended by representatives of the Oblast State Administration, Oblast Council, Ternopil city council, local office of the Ministry of Justice, as well as CSO representatives from Ternopil, Volyn and Lviv oblasts.

 

Development and adoption of oblast-level programmes to promote civil society development is envisaged by the Presidential Strategy for Fostering Civil Society Development in Ukraine as of March 2012. According to the Strategy, oblast-level programmes are to create favorable conditions for registration and operations of non-government organizations and charitable foundations, self-organization groups and civic councils at the oblast and local levels. Important components of the programmes are focused on training civic activists and representatives of public authorities and providing resources for competition-based implementation of NGO projects.

 

Despite the requirements of the Strategy, such oblast-level programmes are still lacking in four administrative entities – Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Cherkasy in particular.

 

At the same time, it should be noted that the draft program produced by Ternopil Oblast State Administration and measuring up to high professional standards, has already gone through public hearings. Despite the fact that the draft programme was sent to the Ternopil Oblast Council in December 2012 for approval, it has yet to be voted.

 

Deputy Head of the Oblast Council, Oleg Bobersky, expressed hope that the Council, which, at its first meeting after a long break, elected a new chairman and approved the oblast budget for the next year, will also adopt the programme to foster development of civil society in December this year.

Summing up the work of the roundtable, participants supported the draft program prepared by the OSA, and stressed the need for its adoption as soon as possible.