Attachments
OVERVIEW
The central and local government decentralization reform (hereinafter referred to as decentralization) is currently rightfully considered one of the most successful democratic reforms in Ukraine, aimed at providing a comfortable and safe living environment throughout the country and fostering efficient local self-government bodies (LSGs) capable of providing high-quality and affordable public services.
The conceptual framework of this reform is built upon the fundamental provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the best global practices regarding the observance of human rights and freedoms.
Reformation of the territory management system is based on the principles of fairness, inclusion, integrity and accountability of the territorial communities (TCs) and is directly related to sectoral decentralization in the spheres of budgeting, taxation, public health, education, social issues, culture and land ownership, among others. Such reformation demonstrates systematic positive changes, promotes the development of TCs and expands their opportunities to pursue public and private investment, including foreign investment. Conditions are being created to ensure individuals’ and entities’ easy access to receiving administrative and other public services digitally.
The new model of financial backing for local budgets has enabled TCs’ autonomy and independence from district budgets. In 2021, all TCs whose territories were approved by the Government and where elections of members and chairpersons of TCs’ councils on a new territorial basis were completed, have shifted to direct inter-budget relations with the State Budget, which means that they have gained autonomy.
The reform has considerably increased the motivation for inter-municipal consolidation within the country and has created favourable conditions for the development of viable TCs in cities, villages and settlements, which are joining forces to solve major problems through cooperation.
The human-centred approach to the decentralization reform ensures an improved quality of governance at the local level, transparency of decisions made and broad involvement of citizens in the processes of decision-making on local development. Decentralization can potentially provide more rights and opportunities to people, in particular to those population groups who often suffer from discrimination and are excluded from decision-making processes.
Analyses conducted by the UN system and other agencies show that women, especially those in vulnerable situations, face multiple forms of discrimination in all spheres of life. All of the following result in systemic barriers to women’s access to services and economic, political and information resources: the unfair distribution of unpaid domestic work and care responsibilities; gender discrimination in the labour market; and, consequently, women’s lower financial independence, low mobility, high vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence, low public support for their political participation, widespread gender stereotypes and the insufficient gender potential of public administration and local governments. Overcoming gender inequality while ensuring the participation of women in the implementation processes of democratic reforms is among Ukraine’s international and national commitments. The gender responsiveness of the decentralization reform is an integral part of its human-centricity and evidence of its efficiency. Accordingly, consolidating the achievements of the reform and enhancing its efficiency require systematic monitoring to assess its impact on various groups of women and men, in particular those in vulnerable situations.
One objective of this study is to identify and analyse the impact of the decentralization process on women and men, in particular those in vulnerable situations with regard to gender equality and the human rights-based approach (GE and HRBA). Based on an analysis of the current regulatory legal documents, the available data on the status of women and men in vulnerable situations, and the results of field surveys conducted in the pilot TCs, this study offers recommendations to help develop extensive response measures during the decentralization reform process. Such measures are aimed at addressing the identified gaps in safeguards for the rights and needs of women and girls in vulnerable situations.
In the study methodology, the authors were guided by the following principles of the human rights-based approach: generality and inherency; equality and non-discrimination; transparency; participation in sociopolitical life; accommodation of the needs and interests of all population categories; accountability; and the rule of law. These principles are also based on recommendations from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) to take into account aspects of gender equality and human rights within the decentralization process in Ukraine. Gender and human-rights-responsive monitoring and evaluation are based on international human rights standards, focusing on the inequalities that underlie development problems. These considerations factor into the analysis of disaggregated data, the condition of diverse groups of women and men in vulnerable situations, and the potential and actual cases of human rights violations omitted in developing and implementing the decentralization reform.