No more collecting neighbours’ signatures on paper or queuing up to see officials to get a road repaired. The government is launching a pilot service called eDumka on the Diya portal. From now on, every resident will be able to influence community life and communicate with local authorities or military administrations entirely online.

The project establishes a direct channel of dialogue. Local authorities will gain a better understanding of people’s needs, be able to prioritise problem-solving based on levels of support, conduct surveys, and receive instant feedback. At the same time, citizens will gain new opportunities:

• to submit proposals on matters of local importance and track the status of their consideration;
• to view, discuss, and support other people’s initiatives;
• to evaluate official responses from officials;
• to take part in surveys organised by local authorities.

Expanded belonging to the community

A key change concerns the approach to determining belonging. From now on, not only officially registered residents but all those with a real connection to the community will be able to influence decisions. The system will automatically verify a user’s status using data from state registers, without the need for paper certificates. Citizens will be entitled to communicate with officials provided they have a declared place of residence, IDP status, property ownership, a record of paying local taxes, or are enrolled as full-time students at local educational institutions.

Stages of the pilot project

The pilot project will run for two years. Experts plan to fully implement the service’s functionality during the next six months. Initially, the tool will be fully operational in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zaporizhzhia, Ternopil, and Kharkiv regions. Other local governments and military administrations can join the initiative on a voluntary basis.