Ukraine
Multilevel Trust in Humanitarian Organisations in Ukraine
Trust is widely recognised as a precondition for effective humanitarian action, yet little empirical work examines whom crisis-affected people in Ukraine trust, why, and with what consequences for access and programme design. This thesis maps beneficiaries’ trust across actor types and identifies the factors that strengthen or erode it, interpreting results through a multilevel lens…
Karlskrona’s Folk High School inspires ‘Silver Age University’ in Chortkiv
With the aim of providing older people and individuals with special needs the opportunity to continue learning and developing throughout their lives, the Ukrainian municipality of Chortkiv, drawing inspiration from Litorina Folk High School in Karlskrona, has launched what they call the “Silver Age University”. In the long term, they also hope to offer war…
Local Democracy and Resilience in Ukraine: Learning from Communities’ Crisis Response in War
The research report explores the resilience of local self-governments (LSGs) in Ukraine during the Russian invasion, highlighting their crucial role in crisis response despite significant challenges. LSGs have adapted to wartime conditions by relocating operations, managing resource shortages, and engaging with citizens and stakeholders to meet critical needs such as infrastructure repair, IDP support, and…
BUILDS-UP – Building Universal and Inclusive Local Design – a Swedish-Ukrainian Partnership
Regional focus: Ukraine Time: December 2024 – December 2026 ICLD is part of a cooperation project funded by the Swedish Institute, under the Ukraine Cooperation Programme. The project BUILDS-UP is led by Malmö University, with ICLD and NGO Poruch as partners. Project summary: The BUILDS-UP cooperation project addresses challenges from the war, and supports Ukraine’s drive towards…
Decentralisation and civic participation strengthens resilience
Decentralisation and civic participation contributes to resilience in the face of crisis – this is the conclusion from an upcoming study of Ukrainian municipalities. Civil servants and local politicians share insights on challenges and strategies to improve collaborative governance, for the sake of societal resilience. 16 Ukrainian municipalities, including seven from ICLD’s Democratic Resilience Network,…
Local Democracy and Resilience in Ukraine: Learning from Communities’ Crisis Response in War
Regional focus: Ukraine/Eastern Europe Time: October 2023 – November 2024 Abstract Amidst the devastating impact of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine has retained its sovereignty. Enabled by decentralization reforms from 2015-2020, local self-governance bodies have played a crucial role in Ukraine’s resilience, offering essential services and backing defense efforts. This phenomenon is puzzling in light of conflicting…
Call for research proposals: Local democracy during war – the case of Ukraine
Terms of Reference Background ICLD calls for research proposals on the role of local democracy during armed conflicts, looking into the case of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. While there is a long academic debate about the critical role played by the local level in peace building processes (Leonardsson & Rudd, 2015; Mac…
The Necessity of Talking the Talk: The functions of Communication for Anti-Corruption Political Will and Policy Development in Ukrainian Local Government
Abstract Corruption is a notoriously intractable problem. How do local public authorities manage to initiate and sustain meaningful anti-corruption efforts? To address this question, we examine the processes and interactions among key stakeholders in six local settings in Ukraine showing sustained reform effort between 2014 and 2021. The analysis identifies key communicative tasks that, taken…
Political Will for Anti-Corruption Reform: Communicative pathways to collective action in Ukraine
Why do some local public authorities engage in meaningful and sustained anti-corruption efforts while elsewhere such initiatives falter? To address this question, we advance a definition of political will as it relates to anti-corruption reforms and examine six local settings in Ukraine which showed sustained reform effort between 2014 and 2021. While previous conceptualisations see…
