Reconstruction of Ukraine: what was done in one year

Quite a lot of legislative changes were made in 2023 to make reconstruction processes not only real, but also effective, in particular from the point of view of citizens' participation in them. However, other important draft laws and initiatives that will significantly increase the effectiveness of these processes are currently at various stages of preparation and consideration. 
Olena Shulyak, head of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning, announced this at the final meeting of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine with Heads of Diplomatic Missions and the public.
One of the most important changes in the field of rehabilitation at the legislative level, which the Committee, the Ministry of Rehabilitation, and the expert community are currently working on, is the legislative framework for effective rehabilitation. According to Shulyak, the draft law "On the basic principles of recovery" provides for the introduction of the principles of a green, inclusive and digital economy in recovery, reconstruction, which will be carried out according to the principle of "build better than before" using the best solutions, and encouraging "peer-to-peer" cooperation » between cities, regions and countries.
"One of the main principles by which Ukraine's recovery should take place is transparency. We invest in this concept careful monitoring of restoration processes, and assessment of reconstruction projects and their subsequent audit. Monitoring will be carried out on the basis of the DREAM system, project evaluation will be carried out on the basis of monitoring reports, statistical information, inspections, evaluations of experts, scientists and non-governmental organizations, and audits will be carried out for objects whose restoration is carried out at the expense of the National Reconstruction Fund. All this will be handled directly by the Transparency and Accountability Council under the Recovery Agency," said the deputy.
The second very important change introduced by the draft law "On the basic principles of restoration" is the legislative consolidation of the status of the digital restoration ecosystem of Ukraine DREAM (Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management).
Shuliak explained that DREAM will become the main information and communication tool for automating the processes of managing restoration projects and monitoring the implementation of projects and the use of financial resources. And the aforementioned bill will make DREAM mandatory for communities to use.
It will be necessary to enter information about objects in DREAM if:

• State authorities, local self-government bodies, enterprises, state and communal institutions or organizations, entities with a decisive share of state ownership are/intend to become the customer of the construction;
• Construction is financed with budget funds.

"An important proof of transparency will be that the information contained in DREAM will be open and publicly available. Monitoring of each restoration project from its inception to full implementation can be carried out not only by an authorized person, ministry official, etc., but by any family, any citizen who wants to know at what stage this or that project is at - his neighborhood, his house , his street," Olena Shulyak emphasized.
She also noted that citizens will be able not only to follow the implementation of reconstruction projects that are relevant to them, but to take an increasingly active part in them. For this purpose, a number of relevant draft laws are also being prepared. First, draft law No. 7283, which will allow citizens not only to be involved in the reconstruction at the level of representatives of the commissions of the Restoration program, but also to exercise other important forms of people's power in the restoration process:

• LGUs will independently regulate the procedure for initiating and applying mechanisms of local democracy (in the charters of territorial communities or individual decisions);
• Determination of the list of forms of public participation and addition of already existing forms that are not regulated by law;
• Determining which issues should be regulated by the decisions of local government, and which by the charter of the territorial community;
• Improving the electronic petition tool;
• Participation of citizens in the formation and distribution of the local budget.

"Also, we plan to improve the work of self-organization bodies of the population (OSN). At the legislative level, we want to give them the opportunity to become active participants in development projects and receive funding for this from local budgets. Because the OSN bodies demonstrated as much as possible how effective they can be - even in the first weeks and months of the war, when people rallied, made decisions within their streets, neighborhoods and even built roadblocks," Shulyak explained. According to her, all of this is provided for by draft law No. 6319 - improvement of the procedure for creation, registration, termination of the powers of the Local Government, updating the powers of the Local Government in accordance with the
current state of local self-government and the new territorial system, improving the opportunities for residents to elect and be elected to the Local Government, and strengthening publicity and openness activities of OSN.
"The foundations of Ukrainian recovery and statehood in general should be communities. And for this, two most important changes must be made - the transfer of power, its powers and, of course, budget funds from the central to the local level. The above-mentioned draft laws are designed to give them an opportunity for this," concluded Olena Shulyak.

https://budport.com.ua/news/27933-vidbudova-ukrajni-scho-bulo-zrobleno-za-rik

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