Ukrainian communities will receive a new tool that will enable them to accurately assess their own capacity. The Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories has presented an updated approach to assessing community capacity, as well as the first iteration of a Dashboard. This Dashboard is based on verified data, and was created in partnership with the Recovery for All (RFA) Project and the Polaris Programme.

The main message for local self-government is that the state is developing uniform, transparent and comprehensible criteria to ensure that support is allocated to the areas that need it most. Communities will be able to assess their situation and dynamics based on data rather than ‘perceptions’.

Why the approach is changing and why communities need this tool

Oleksii Riabykin, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories, emphasised that Ukrainian communities have not yet had the opportunity to operate at full capacity since their formation in 2020, as the pandemic and full-scale war have transformed the conditions for development.

‘We are not discussing changes to community boundaries at the moment. They have not yet had the opportunity to fulfil their potential. However, we are talking about assessing capacity, not ranking. We do not want to rank anyone from first to last place,’ stressed Oleksii Riabykin.

The aim is to create a unified, data-driven approach to enable the state to provide targeted support to communities that do not meet certain standards in specific sectors.

‘We must rely on clear data. Not on wishes. Not on fantasies. We need an objective picture of the state of the community, including its finances, economy, demographics, and the challenges and incentives for development,’ explained Oleksii Riabykin.

What exactly is changing

Yurii Kotok, Deputy Director of the Department of Multilevel Governance at the Ministry for Development, explained the logic behind the new tool. The previous 2020 methodology only contained general criteria, which were never used to assess the community after its creation.

‘Even the approved criteria are generalised. They do not provide an understanding of the community’s specific needs, institutional capacity, or the consequences of the invasion,’ noted Mr Kotok.

Therefore, in the new model:

✔ Only verified data is used

Data is collected from official state sources, ministries, and, in the future, also from communities and regional state administrations.

✔ Assessment will be conducted separately for urban, settlement, and rural communities

No mixing of different types – this will avoid irrelevant comparisons.

✔ Four groups of criteria have been defined (24 indicators at the start)

• human potential;
• humanitarian and economic potential;
• institutional capacity;
• financial capacity.

‘This is the first draft. The list will be expanded, particularly with regard to institutional capacity and economic indicators,’ explained Yurii Kotok.

The dashboard filters communities and displays their status in terms of each group of criteria, as well as analyses trends.

What the initial results show – and why some of them need to be discussed

Oleksii Riabykin drew attention to an important aspect, ‘In terms of financial capacity, some territories appear to be in a good position, but these are the territories that have accepted the largest number of relocated people and businesses. This raises questions for us. We need to work with this data very carefully.’

For this reason, he claims that the presentation is merely the beginning of an extensive professional discussion.

How the logic of indicators was formed

The presentations highlighted several important points:

• the criteria take into account not only the work of local governments, but also the community itself, including its demographic, economic, and social status;
• financial indicators are currently the most comprehensive, but their ‘weight’ will be balanced over time by other groups of criteria;
• the data range should be updated annually to show the current state and dynamics – namely, whether the community is making progress, even from a low starting point.

The presenters emphasised that the assessment should serve as the basis for action, providing indicators for planning, decision-making and policy instruments, rather than just being a nice picture.

How the Dashboard works and why it is important

Yevhen Mashyna, Deputy Director of the RFA Project, explained the reasoning behind creating the tool:

‘We wanted to provide a flexible approach to showing how the situation varies from community to community. This interactive tool shows all the criteria and values. This is only the first iteration. We will continue to add to and refine the data.’

He emphasised that, when working with pilot communities, the project had noticed that, while strategic documents existed, the capacity to implement them was often lacking. Therefore, assessing capacity is key to achieving real development.

Next steps: broad discussion and regulatory consolidation

Oleksii Riabykin announced the following steps in the process.

‘With this briefing, we are initiating a broad discussion. This is not the final assessment method. We want to hear from communities, regional authorities, experts and the general public. After all, it is the people who live in communities who are the recipients of policy. Good policies should result in good services. Therefore, we want to take the discussion to the next level and develop an effective tool for community development.’

All key ministries are already involved in the work. The next step will be discussions with communities.