Lecture 3.

International standards of the local self-government (2 hrs)

This lecture is dedicated to the current problems of local government in Ukraine which can be solved by the implementation of the international municipal standards. Attention is paid to the activity of the UN and different trends supported by the UN. The text of the standards is cited, the status of the standards (treaty / non-treaty) and the ways of its implementation in Ukraine are discussed.

Learning outcome: By the end of the lecture students should be able to analyze how to use the international municipal standards to improve the Ukrainian legislation in order to solve the current problems of local self-government in Ukraine.

Key terms of the topic:
International standards	UN Programme HABITAT
Ratification and implementation	Sustainable community
United Nations Organization	Community development

The international standards first appeared in the middle of the XX century in the field of human rights. After the Second World War it was important to create for all of the countries world-wide values and binding legal norms to protect these values. The first international standards in the field of human rights were created by the United Nations Organization.

The UN is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. The work of the UN reaches every corner of the globe. Although best known for peacekeeping, peacebuilding, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance, there are many other ways the United Nations and its System (specialized agencies, funds and programmes) affect our lives and make the world a better place. The Organization works on a broad range of fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment and refugees protection, disaster relief, counter terrorism, disarmament and non-proliferation, to promoting democracy, human rights, gender equality and the advancement of women, governance, economic and social development and international health, clearing landmines, expanding food production, and more, in order to achieve its goals and coordinate efforts for a safer world for this and future generations.The United Nations Organization (the UN) is the flagmanship that actively protects human rights all over the world at all of the levels – international, national and local.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It was established in 1978 and based at Nairobi, Kenia.

A habitat (which is Latin for "it inhabits") is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population. Human habitat is the environment in which human beings live, work, play and move about. It is not just a dwelling place – a house - but the sum of all factors that constitute the total environment. The term habitat comes from ecology, and includes many interrelated features, especially the immediate physical environment, the urban environment or the social environment (C.I. Dickinson, M. Abercrombie, C.J. Hickman and M.L. Johnson).

UN-HABITAT is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. Towns and cities are growing today at unprecedented rates setting the social, political, cultural and environmental trends of the world, both good and bad. In 1950, one-third of the world's people lived in cities. Just 50 years later, this rose to one-half and will continue to grow to two-thirds, or 6 billion people, by 2050. Cities are now home to half of humankind.

Cities are the hubs of much national production and consumption - economic and social processes that generate wealth and opportunity. But they also create disease, crime, pollution, poverty and social unrest. In many cities, especially in developing countries, slum dwellers number more than 50 per cent of the population and have little or no access to shelter, water, and sanitation, education or health services. It is essential that policy­makers understand the power of the city as a catalyst for national development. Sustainable urbanisation is one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community in the 21st century.

UN-HABITAT's programmes are designed to help policy-makers and local communities get to grips with the human settlements and urban issues and find workable, lasting solutions. The organization's mandate is outlined in the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, Habitat Agenda, Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements, the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, and Resolution 56/206. UN-HABITAT's work is directly related to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, particularly the goals of member States to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020, Target 11, Millennium Development Goal No. 7, and Target 10 which calls for the reduction by half of the number without sustainable access to safe drinking water.

UN-HABITAT's strategic vision is anchored in a four-pillar strategy aimed at attaining the goal of Cities without Slums. This strategy consists of advocacy of global norms, analysis of information, field-testing of solutions and financing. These fall under the four core functions assigned to the agency by world governments - monitoring and research, policy development, capacity building and financing for housing and urban development.

The mission of UN-HABITAT is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. The slogan is: shelter for all.

The strategy of UN-HABITAT is as follows. Urban poverty reduction strategies derive from an understanding of current conditions and trends (e.g., urbanization, globalization, the growth of slums and the gross inequities in urban life) and from the norms and principles that guide the United Nations response to these conditions. These norms and principles include, among others, sustainable urban development, adequate shelter for all, improvement in the lives of slum dwellers, access to safe water and sanitation, social inclusion, environmental protection and the various human rights. With experience and understanding also comes the recognition that urban and shelter finance mechanisms are essential to poverty reduction and, also, that very little may be achieved without collaborative effort as expressed in partnerships.

With these imperatives in mind and with a sharper focus on urban poverty and, in particular, slums as the most visible manifestation of urban poverty within the overall urbanization process, the UN-HABITAT strategic vision has been further refined, giving more attention to knowledge management, the financing of housing and human settlements and, particularly, to strategic partnerships. The expanded strategic vision is both forward looking and pragmatic, being consistent with social norms and political principles as well as with UN-HABITAT mandates, capabilities and partners’ objectives. Its main elements are:

- Knowledge management and reporting, expanding the global understanding of urban development, shelter and poverty, and tracking progress in implementing the Habitat Agenda;

- Advocacy of norms for sustainable urbanization and urban poverty reduction, carried forward through two global campaigns and a number of global programmes;

- Technical cooperation in linking norms and campaign/programme goals to urban poverty reduction activities on the ground;

- Innovative financing for urbanization and specific shelter needs of the urban poor; and

- Strategic partnerships to leverage resources and coordinate international programme activities that work toward similar ends.

The agency's budget comes from four main sources - the vast majority in the form of contributions from multilateral and bilateral partners for technical cooperation. The agency also receives earmarked contributions from governments and other partners, including local authorities and foundations, and around 5 per cent from the regular UN budget.

UN-HABITAT runs two major worldwide campaigns – the Global Campaign on Urban Governance, and the Global Campaign for Secure Tenure. Through these campaigns and by other means, the agency focuses on a range of issues and special projects which it helps implement.

These include a joint UN-HABITAT/World Bank slum upgrading initiative called the Cities Alliance, promoting effective housing development policies and strategies, helping develop and campaigning for housing rights, promoting sustainable cities and urban environmental planning and management, post-conflict land-management and reconstruction in countries devastated by war or natural disasters. Others take in water and sanitation and solid waste management for towns and cities, training and capacity building for local leaders, ensuring that women’s rights and gender issues are brought into urban development and management policies, helping fight crime through UN-HABITAT’s Safer Cities Programme, research and monitoring of urban economic development, employment, poverty reduction, municipal and housing finance systems, and urban investment. It also helps strengthen rural-urban linkages, and infrastructure development and public service delivery.

UN-HABITAT also has some 154 technical programmes and projects in 61 countries around the world, most of them in the least developed countries. These include major projects in post-war societies such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name a few. The agency’s operational activities help governments create policies and strategies aimed at strengthening a self-reliant management capacity at both national and local levels. They focus on promoting shelter for all, improving urban governance, reducing urban poverty, improving the living environment and managing disaster mitigation and post-conflict rehabilitation.

Some of the UN HABITAT programmes are: Best Practices and Local Leadership, Habitat Partner University Initiative, Cities Alliance, Global Urban Observatory, Youth Fund, Housing Rights, Localising Agenda 21, Strengthening Training Institutions, Safer Cities, Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP), Urban Management Programme, Water and Sanitation, Slum Upgrading Facility, Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme, Global Urban Observatory, Sustainable Urban Development Network.

Sustainable communities. Community development. Nowadays the scientists are emphasizing two main types of the communities – the communities based on the shared interests and the territorial communities. Specialists in local self-government are working with the latter and with the bodies that represent their interests. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, territorial community is residents of a village or a voluntary association of residents of several villages into one village community, residents of a settlement, and of a city. It has a right to independently resolve issues of local character within the limits of the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine. Self-organized bodies of population (for example, the house committees, the street committees, the block committees) represent the interests of the small groups within the territorial collectives. To identify such groups, the researchers propose to use the term ‘territorial microcollectrive’.

So, territorial microcollectrive is part of the territorial collective. Among the main characters of the territorial microcollective are:

- territorial microcollective is always situated within the bounds of the city, town or village. At the same time, the bounds of its territory do not coincide with the bounds of area, within any local council operates;

- members of the territorial microcollective are only those natural persons (Ukrainian citizens, foreign citizens and apatrides), which are living on the appropriate territory;

- there are relatively strong direct social links amongst the members of the territorial microcollective;

- interests of the territorial microcollectives could be represented by the self-organized bodies of population.

Self-organized bodies of population have the unique legal status in Ukraine because:

- officially they are part of the Ukrainian local government system;

- it is a form of people’s indirect participation in the local government;

- their nature isn’t public (there are not local government bodies, they are only the part of the local government system).

According to the laws of Ukraine self-organized bodies of population are representative bodies created by the part of the population, which legally temporary or permanently live on the appropriate territory within the bounds of the city, town or village or of their parts, to solute the problems, which are listed in the Law of Ukraine “On Self-organized Bodies of Population”. Their mission is to stir the masses to participate in the community life; to contribute to the satisfaction of social, cultural, common, everyday and other needs of the residents by providing various services; to take part in the realisation of social, cultural and other local programmes.

Self-organized bodies of population have own functions and functions, delegated to them by the local councils. Among their functions are:

- to organise voluntary participation of the tenants in welfare works, in planting of trees and gardens, in recycling programmes, etc;

- to organise voluntary participation of the tenants in repair works;

- to control the quality of repair works;

- to examine the tenants’ complaints;

- to inform tenants about the local councils’ work;

- to represent the interests of the community along with the local council’s members;

- to help the local council’s members in their community work;

- to introduce proposals to the local projects of social, economical and cultural development;

- to promote the observance of state and local legislation;

- to control the quality of public utilities;

- to help kindergartens, schools, sport and other sections in their work;

- to organise help to elderly, poor, disabled persons, to orphans;

- to organise voluntary fire-brigades;

- to help police departments to maintain public order.

Self-organized bodies of population don’t have membership. They operate for the benefit of the whole community.

The closest analogues to these bodies in the foreign countries are called community organisations, neighbourhood trusts, tenants associations, grass-root organisations, community associations, neighbourhood-based organisations. They all function in order to create sustainable communities.

Sustainable community is based on the idea of the social capital, proposed and developed by R. Putnam. He wrote that “social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups".

The UN actively supports the development of the sustainable communities. Sustainable communities are communities planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. They tend to focus on environmental sustainability (including development and agriculture) and economic sustainability. Sustainable communities can focus on sustainable urban infrastructure and/or sustainable municipal infrastructure. As the researchers define, sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and good services for all (V. Maliene, J. Howe, N. Malys).

Sustainable urban infrastructure is a term used to describe infrastructure that facilitates a place or regions progress towards the goal of sustainable living. Attention is paid to technological and government policy which enables urban planning for sustainable architecture and initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture. In theory, a sustainable design can lead to the development of sustainable communities by ensuring that infrastructural knowledge makes improvements that do not deplete natural resources. Consequently the transition and mass adoption of renewable resources features heavily in a sustainable infrastructures. The design emphasis for a sustainable urban infrastructure is on localization and sustainable living. The aim is to reduce individual's ecological footprint according to the principles of sustainable development in areas with a high population density. The criteria for what can be included in this kind of urban environment varies from place to place, given differences in existing infrastructure and built form, climate and availability of local resources or talents.

Generally speaking the following could be considered sustainable urban infrastructure:

- public transport networks;

- distributed generation and integrated energy demand management initiatives and programs;

- high efficiency buildings and other development constraints such as only permitting the construction of green buildings and sustainable habitats with energy-efficient landscaping;

- connected green spaces and wildlife corridors;

- low impact development practices to protect water resources.

In order to create sustainable communities, foreign countries introduce community development programs. Community development, informally called community building, is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities. According to the encyclopedia dictionaries, community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills are often concentrated around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions.

Community Development Foundation for Communities and Local Government defines the community development as follows: "a set of values and practices which plays a special role in overcoming poverty and disadvantage, knitting society together at the grass roots and deepening democracy. There is a CD profession, defined by national occupational standards and a body of theory and experience going back the best part of a century. There are active citizens who use CD techniques on a voluntary basis, and there are also other professions and agencies which use a CD approach or some aspects of it."

Community Development Exchange defines community development as: “the process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structures to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives.

Community Development Exchange (CDX) is one of the most influential organizations in the field of the community development. It is independent membership organization for community development, based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. A lot of innovations of CDX are used by the International Association for Community Development, including the definitions and explanations what the community development is and what it isn’t.

CDX states that community development can be both an occupation (such as a community development worker in a local authority) and a way of working with communities. Its key purpose is to build communities based on justice, equality and mutual respect.

According to the CDX, community development involves changing the relationships between ordinary people and people in positions of power, so that everyone can take part in the issues that affect their lives. It starts from the principle that within any community there is a wealth of knowledge and experience which, if used in creative ways, can be channelled into collective action to achieve the communities' desired goals. Community development practitioners work alongside people in communities to help build relationships with key people and organisations and to identify common concerns. They create opportunities for the community to learn new skills and, by enabling people to act together, community development practitioners help to foster social inclusion and equality.

CDX also gives the profound definition of the community development.

The challenge in defining community development is how to capture its essence when it is so multi-faceted. Community development is a challenging process because it requires the following ingredients:

1. A long-term process which goes at local residents' pace. Community development has to take the necessary time to help communities develop themselves, including:

- Bringing people together to explore their lives and issues, and understanding the root causes of their concerns;

- Identifying which other organisations, agencies or influential people might be supportive or targets for change;

- Helping communities to identify the changes that they would want to achieve;

- Encouraging communities to feel they can make a difference;

- Exploring previous attempts to change things, and what can be learnt;

- Supporting the communities in agreeing shared visions and priorities for action;

- Agreeing a useful way to assess their progress and evaluate their impact (outcomes and indicators);

- Providing user-friendly frameworks to help the communities make plans and build their own organisations;

- Delivering training or finding appropriate learning opportunities;

- Finding all the resources they need;

- Challenging communities where necessary, so that they are inclusive towards all community members;

- Supporting individual residents so they can stay onboard (welfare);

- Helping the communities reflect and learn

This long-term approach is essential to ensure changes are sustainable and long-lasting.

2. A value-based process. The key purpose of community development practice is to challenge disadvantage and inequality, and to build communities based on the principles of social justice, equality and mutual respect. Community development has to tackle power issues to be effective in supporting communities to achieve positive social change. Community development's notion of positive social change is rooted in community development's core values: social justice, equality and anti-discrimination, collective action, community empowerment and working and learning together.

3. Social Change outcomes. Community development is seeking to address power imbalances in society and help communities to empower themselves without oppressing others. So here is the newly-coined definition of community development, enshrined in the newly-adopted National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Community Development Work (2009): "Community Development is a long-term value based process which aims to address imbalances in power and bring about change founded on social justice, equality and inclusion." CDX subscribes to this shared definition of community development.

CDX defines the community development’s values as follows: community development is distinct from other ways of working with communities because it is underpinned by a specific set of values. When people or organisations join CDX, they agree to work towards these values. CDX agrees with such values as:

- Equality and Anti-discrimination. Community development practice challenges structural inequalities and discriminatory practices. Community development recognises that people are not the same, but they are all of equal worth and importance and therefore entitled to the same degree of respect and acknowledgement.

- Social Justice. The aim of increasing social justice is an essential element of community development practice. It involves identifying and seeking to alleviate structural disadvantage and advocating strategies for overcoming exclusion, discrimination and inequality.

- Collective Action. Community development practice is essentially about working with and supporting groups of people, to increase their knowledge, skills and confidence so they can analyse their situations and identify issues which can be addressed through collective action.

- Community Empowerment. Community development practice seeks the empowerment of individuals and communities, through using the strengths of the community to bring about desired changes.

- Working and Learning Together. Community development practice promotes a collective process which enables participants to learn from reflecting on their experiences.

One more interesting page on the CDX web-site is named “What community development isn't about”.

- It isn't just for community development workers. Anyone can perform in a community development role if they are given the training, resources and support to work with communities on the communities' own priorities from the start;

- It isn't a "quick fix". Community development is a long-term process, focusing on people and their needs and aims. This long-term approach is essential to ensure changes are sustainable and long-lasting;

- It isn't a "numbers game". If five people turn up to a public meeting, these are the five people that the work starts with and grows from;

- It isn't a euphemism for "Partnership working". Community development is the activity which enables many people to get to the partnership table in the first place. It is the way of working which challenges unrepresentative voices: talking with three 'community representatives' is not representative of the needs of the wider community if the representatives are not accountable to the communities and delegated to express the collective views of these communities. Community development enables many more voices to be heard and ensures they represent the diversity of opinions;

- It isn't merely "Consultation". Community development is much more than consulting on decisions already made. It is about residents exploring their own needs and seeking the services which meet their differing needs;

- It isn't "Tokenism". It won't provide the answer to all problems, such as a cheap way of providing services, demonstrating management efficiency or validating funding bids;

- It isn't just "Volunteering". Volunteering does bring many benefits, including the opportunities to develop teamwork, community spirit and personal growth. But many people become involved in voluntary community activity because they cannot get the service they want, and have to provide it themselves. It is not necessarily because they want to be volunteers;

- It isn't the same as "Community Engagement". Community engagement is generally initiated by agencies or people in positions of power to seek community involvement in planning and reviewing services or engaging in democratic life. It can be empowering if it leads to communities having an effective say in service provision or political decisions. It will also benefit from community development which builds the road of organised groups which others may find useful to reach people. However community development isn't merely a tool for community engagement; it starts from communities' own concerns. Community development helps communities reach out to agencies and other influential people when the issues require their involvement. Community development helps communities to develop clear ideas about what they want to say and the changes they are seeking from others, and then to consider which forums and networks will help them pursue their interests through their collective voices.

The most famous international municipal standard is World Wide Declaration of Local Self-Government (1985). The International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), the worldwide association of local governments, adopted the Worldwide Declaration of Local Self-Government at its 27th World Congress in September, 1985, in Rio de Janeiro. It was amended it IULA's 31st World Congress in Toronto on 13-17 June, 1993. Before these amendments the Declaration was very much like the European Charter of Local Self-Government 1985 (the Charter was worked out 2 month earlier than the Declaration). Now there are more differences in the texts of these two documents.

The amendments to the Declaration were made because of several reasons:

- the tremendous changes in the world's social, political and economic situation since 1985, including the collapse of totalitarian regimes in many parts of the globe and the growing trend toward free and democratic societies in countries long repressed;

- in view of the recognition that many global problems must be dealt with at the local level; and in light of the growing trend among international bodies to regard local government as effective partners in social and economic development programs and activities;

- determined there must be a renewed campaign to promote and promulgate the essential nature of democratic local self-government and its critical role in securing social, economic and political justice for all citizens of every community in the world;

- considering that local government, as an integral part of the national structure, is the level of government closest to the citizens and therefore in the best position both to involve them in the making of decisions concerning their living conditions and to make use of their knowledge and capabilities in the promotion of development;

- recalling the principle, recognised in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that the will of the people is the basis of the authority of government;

- welcoming the fact that to date, 19 European Governments have signed, and 15 European Governments have ratified, the European Charter of Local Self-Government which was adopted as a Council of Europe Convention in 1985, and that this charter has been used by several governments of Central and Eastern Europe as a major guideline in the preparation of their new local government legislation;

- considering that it is at the local level that the conditions can best be provided for the creation of a harmonious community to which citizens feel they belong and for which they assume responsibility;

- emphasising that strengthening local government strengthens the entire nation by ensuring more effective and democratic public policies;

- considering that decentralised decision-making reduces congestion at the centre and improves and speeds up governmental action, that it stimulates local initiative, that it unleashes creative and innovative energies, gives vitality to new institutions, and that it increases the likelihood that services and amenities, once established, will be maintained and expanded.

Declaration consists of 11 articles that include the core principles for the organization of local self-government. These principles are very important for Ukrainian legislation. Some of them are already implemented, but the implementation of the rest of them to the national legislation might take years.

Article 1 is dedicated to the constitutional foundation for local self-government. It states that the principle of local self-government shall be recognised in the constitution or in the basic legislation concerning the governmental structures of the country. This principle is already implemented in the Ukrainian legislation – both Constitution and a set of Laws of Ukraine have the biggest part of the necessary norms to develop bylaws in the municipal sphere.

Article 2 “Concept of local self-government” gives the basic features of the municipal law and defines what local government is. According to its text, local self-government denotes the right and the duty of local authorities to regulate and manage public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population. This right shall be exercised by individuals and representative bodies freely elected on a periodical basis by equal, universal suffrage, and their chief executives shall be so elected or shall be appointed with the participation of the elected body. As one can see, the Constitutional definition of the local self-government (Article 140) in Ukraine was created according to the international municipal standards. Chapters XI and III of the Constitution also contribute in the meeting Ukraine’s international obligations.

Article 3 “The scope of local self-government” is based on the principle of the subsidiarity. According to this principle, public responsibilities shall be exercised by those basic units of local government which are closest to the citizen. They may also be exercised by territorial units at an intermediate or regional level, in accordance with the practice in each country. The principle of the subsidiarity is one of the main international values that are very difficult to implement in the everyday municipal life of the new democracies – and Ukraine isn’t an exception.

Part 4 of Article 3 determines one more principle that isn’t implemented in the Ukrainian legislation yet – the principle that powers given to local authorities shall normally be full and exclusive. Because of the building of municipal system that isn’t finished yet, and because of the numerous financial problems, the powers given to the local authorities are limited. In order to make them wider, Ukraine actively uses the principle from the next paragraph of Article 3, which allows and encourages central or regional authority delegate powers to the local authorities.

Article 4 ‘Protection of existing local authorities’ holds the norms that are implemented in the Ukrainian legislation. In order to protect the abolition of local self-government in the country, the Declaration sets that if the constitution or national law permits the suspension or dissolution of local councils or the suspension or dismissal of local executives, this shall be done in accordance with due process of law. Their functioning shall be restored within as short a period of time as possible which shall be prescribed by law. Changes in local authority boundaries shall only be made by law and after consultation of the local community or communities concerned, including by means of a referendum where this is permitted by statute.

Article 5 is very interesting for the Ukrainian municipal building, as it recommends the adequate organisational structures for local government and states that the local authorities shall determine their own internal administrative structures in order to adapt them to local needs and ensure effective management. In Ukraine these rights of the local authorities are limited in comparison with the old democracies – for example, in the USA and in the UK there are 3 organizational forms of the municipal government, in Germany – 4 organizational forms of the municipal government (see lecture 5 for more details).

Articles 6 and 7 aim to guarantee the freedom to the local self-government when they exercising of their functions. Thus, any functions and activities which are deemed incompatible with the holding of local elective office shall be determined by statute only; and the supervision of local authorities shall normally aim only at ensuring compliance with the law. Article 11 ensures the legal protection of local authorities and their autonomy: local authorities shall have the right of recourse to a judicial remedy in order to safeguard their autonomy and to ensure compliance with the laws which determine their functions and protect their interests. The financial protection and independence of the local authorities is guaranteed by the Article 8. Local authorities shall be entitled to adequate financial resources of their own, distinct from those of other levels of government and to dispose freely of such revenue within the framework of their powers.

Besides, Article 8 of the Declaration sets the main sources of the municipal budgets. Firstly, a reasonable proportion of financial resources of local authorities shall derive from local taxes, fees and charges of which they shall have the power to determine the rate. Secondly, they can apply for the grants – but the provision of block grants, which are not earmarked for the financing of specific projects or services, shall be promoted. The provision of grants shall not justify any undue intervention in the policies pursued by local authorities within their own jurisdiction.

Articles 9 and 11 proclaim that the local authorities shall be entitled, in exercising their powers, to form associations for the defence and promotion of their common interests as well as in order to provide certain services to their members, and that the local authorities’ right of association shall include that of belonging to an international association of local authorities.

Ukraine actively supports the work that aims to create international municipal standards, ratify and implement them in the national legislation. But because of some problems that are typical for every young democracy, not all of the standards are part of the Ukrainian legislation yet.

Mandatory reading:

1. Constitution of Ukraine.

2. The European Charter of Local Self-Government (1985) (the text is included).

Recommended reading:

1. Worldwide Declaration of Local Self-Government. Available at: http://www.bunken.nga.gr.jp/siryousitu/eturansitu/charter/iula_decl_txt.html

2. International Association for Community Development. Available at: http://www.iacdglobal.org/

3. Community Development Foundation. Available at: http://www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest

4. Community Development Exchange. Available at: http://www.cdx.org.uk/

5. The Citizen’s Handbook. Available at: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/

6. The United Nations Organization. Available at: http://www.un.org/

7. The UN HABITAT. Available at: http://www.unhabitat.org/

8. Putnam, Robert. (2000), "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" (Simon and Schuster).

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