We present the analytical document “Government and Civil Society: Interaction in Public and Social Dialogue” prepared by experts of the Federation of Trade Unions of Small and Medium Enterprises of Ukraine Viacheslav Roi and Kharkiv Regional Organization of the Trade Union of Entrepreneurs Valerii Repin as part of the UNP initiative.
We continue to share the results of initiatives supported by the UNP in 2021 under the project “Support to the Ukrainian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (UNP EaP CSF) in 2021-2023”, administered by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting funded by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and the European Union.
The purpose of the initiative: to show the distinctions / differences in the subjects, areas, tools and results of the interaction of government and the public in the framework of public and social dialogue and the peculiarities of the implementation of each of them.
As a result of the initiative, an analytical document “Government and Civil Society: Interaction in Public and Social Dialogue” was prepared and published, which provided a comparative overview of the features of public and social dialogue.
In the document, the authors note that despite the long history of existence and the presence in Ukraine of positive steps by the authorities and civil society institutions to establish a constructive dialogue, it is worth noting a number of negative trends affecting the state and quality of such interaction.
According to the authors, the main reasons hindering the interaction of authorities with CSOs today are: low activity and inertia of CSOs, imperfect provisions of legislative acts on the basis of which public and social dialogue is carried out, formalized nature and insignificant effect of existing mechanisms of government-CSO interaction; lack of trust in state power by CSOs; on the other hand, civil servants are sometimes skeptical about communication with civil society organizations; insufficient information openness of public authorities, etc.
Information and advocacy campaigns
The results of the study were disseminated as part of an information campaign to these stakeholders (civic activists, NGOs, trade unions, employers’ organizations, authorities) and presented: at a meeting of WG 5 UNP EaP CSF; during the webinar “Communication between government and civil society: public vs social dialogue”; voiced during the meeting of WG5 at the level of EaP CSF and in the framework of the Annual Conference of the UNP on November 10, 2021.
Training was conducted among the participants of the webinar (November 19 and 26, 2021) on the mechanisms and tools for establishing a constructive dialogue between the authorities and civil society organizations.
As part of the initiative, proposals have been prepared for public authorities to promote the development of an effective model of public dialogue:
- consider: establishing a subcommittee on civil society development within the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy or a committee on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development and urban planning, or expanding the scope of civil society development to one of the existing subcommittees;
- initiate annual parliamentary hearings on the development of civil society in Ukraine together with the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Coordination Council;
- to provide an opportunity to hold hearings in the profile committee on the assessment of the implementation of the National Strategy for Civil Society Development in Ukraine.
Analytical document “Government and Civil Society: Interaction in Public and Social Dialogue”, 2021
Video recording of presentations of initiatives at the Annual Conference of the UNP EaP CSC, November 9-10, 2021
The initiative was implemented within the framework of the project “Support to the activities of the UNP EaP CSF in 2021-2023”, funded by the European Union, the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and implemented by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.
