Can citizens influence service delivery in municipalities?

On the photo: Centre for Administrative Service Provision in Voznesensk, Ukraine

Is citizens’ voice heard by the authorities? Here in Ukraine we often doubt it; for example, when we see that the Members of Parliament approved almost 8 times more money in the state budget 2013 for maintaining the MP’s recreational sanatoriums compared to the funds allocated for recreation of children across the whole country. Would the proportion be the same if citizens were asked about their preferences?

The same applies to the process of administrative service provision. 54% of Ukrainians are fully or mostly unsatisfied with the quality of administrative service provision at local level. Reasons include complexity of the administrative procedures; lack of proper information from the authorities; lengthy terms of service provision; uncomfortable work schedules of the administrative bodies; and many others. But can citizens influence this situation?

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Citizens appreciate the improved quality of administrative service delivery in Voznesensk

Ukraine is a highly urbanized country with 459 cities where about 70% of its total population lives. Citizens often need to get services from numerous state and municipal authorities. It has always been a challenge for 37 thousand citizens of Voznesensk municipality, quite typical for Ukraine, to understand the numerous legislative acts regulating the procedures, whom to address and the way to follow. What was done in Vonzesensk municipality to simplify the service delivery for citizens I described in the post below.

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How we support citizen-oriented service delivery

Photo: mvk.if.ua

54% of Ukrainians are mostly or partially unsatisfied with the services delivered by the state or local authorities (UNDP-supported manual, pdf, Ukr). Therefore, in March 2012 the Government of Ukraine has committed to concrete steps towards reforms in the area of good governance, access to information, anticorruption and e-governance by approving the Action Plan for implementation of the “Open Government Partnership” initiative. But the local self-government bodies which have always been at the forefront of communication with citizens demonstrated the interest to becoming citizen-oriented much earlier.

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How to convert a dormitory into a cozy home

The problem of dormitories remains valid for the whole country. The Cabinet of Ministers thinks that the issue of privatization of the dormitories can be solved by their transfer to the balance of the local authorities. On 26 September last year the Law was approved to extend by 2015 the citizens’ opportunities to privatise their apartments in dormitories if they have lived there for a long time on a legal basis. But while all these issues are being discussed at the national level, the residents of the dormitories clearly understand that the fact of approval of their property rights is only the start of the way to go, and they are the only ones to practically solve the urgent problems of their housing.

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