Що таке "Policy Memo" і як ними впливати на прийняття рішень у громадах ?

Практичні поради щодо написання і трохи тесту про важливість використання цього інструменту е-демократії в сучасному світі

"Policy Memo" (укр. "політична записка") – це короткий (зазвичай 1 аркуш) аналітичний документ з рекомендаціями, як вирішити певну проблему. Написання таких документів можна розглядати як один з інструментів е-демократії - поряд з е-запитами, е-зверненнями та е-консультаціями. Часто використовується в контексті адвокаційної діяльності. 

Як написати ?

Написанню цього документа має передувати глибокий аналіз якоїсь проблеми. Тема має бути суспільно важливою. Є три обов'язкові блоки:

1. У чому проблема?

Тут варто використовувати вражаючі дані, щоб показати, що це дійсно проблема, показувати нові дослідження. Завдання: переконати, що це актуально – додати посилання на останні події чи поточні обговорення політики. 

 2. Чому це важливо?

Мета тексту в цій частині - обґрунтувати значущість вирішення цієї проблеми: як і на що це вплине – хто виграє від цього; що буде, якщо не вирішувати цю проблему і т.д. ("Квадрат Декарта"). 

3. Що з цим робити?

Це є найважливішою частиною документа. Потрібно подумати про існуючі інструменти політики і як ними можна вирішити цю проблему, або запропонувати нові. Цей блок має містити в собі приклади, дані, дослідження, щоб довести високу ймовірність вирішення проблеми запропонованими Вами способами.

(Приклади англомовних документів авторки статті)

Policy Memo № 1

Public discussions on land issues: how to make them effective?

May, 2020

What’s the issue?

In communities of UA, public discussions are rare and ineffective.

Why is it important?

Quick solution of land problems and rational use of community land resources. Public discussions should be held to ensure that the community makes and implements decisions that take into account the views of the maximum number of its members. Citizens express their opinion, and the community takes into account all the options voiced.

Development of democracy in AHs, encourage greater public engagement, inclusive development, and innovations. Conducting public discussions and e-consultations facilitates build partnerships with government, local government, business and the non-governmental sector in communities.

What should policy makers do?

Publish information about such discussions on the website of the community council and in each settlement two weeks before the event. Along with the announcement, publish all the materials that will be discussed.

Develop e-democracy tools in communities and encourage citizens to use them.

Keep a record of offline public discussions on dictaphone and video. You will need this if you have any questions.

Form a package of documents and schemes based on the results of public discussions.assignment to creation of the municipal enterprises with objective substantiation of terms achieving results.

Develop a detailed action plan and identify sources of funding. The plan has to include all stages of realization.

Find performers, using competitive selection.

Determine a competent official in this matter, who will be authorized to communicate with the executor, monitor the status of implementation and acceptance of the results of work.

Set deadlines and define results and performance criteria. If these are design works provided by the current legislation, they must be approved and approved accordingly. Reflect all this in the terms of reference to the Contract.

Involve the public in monitoring the implementation of measures. This is a transparent factor the relationship between the contractor and the community authorities.

Update the database and publish updated schemas on the community website. In case of changes in the scheme of perspective use of lands of the community - initiate new public discussions with the subsequent announcement of new actions.

Policy Memo №2

Evidence-based policy making: why do communities need GIS-technologies?

May, 2020

What’s the issue?

Unfounded decision-making process at Hromada level and low quality of asset management. Communities inefficiently manage community assets, which leads to decreasing community budget revenues.

Why is it important?

Convenience, speed, low labor costs. The introduction of GIS technologies facilitates the processes of analysis, planning and control of the use of community resources and is one of the ways to solve many problems. Structured and geocoded information makes it possible to obtain the necessary maps, lists, extracts; find opportunities to fill the budget. The information gathered helps to resolve land disputes.

Anti-corruption effect due to transparency and citizen involvement. Complete and up-to-date information, which is concentrated in the community, reduces the number of appeals to the authorities, as a result, reduces the corruption component.

What should policy makers do?

Choose a GIS product. Most of them do not require a license. They can be used for any of your own needs; improve and publish derivative products as publicly available. Such GIS include: QGIS, SAGA, GRASS, PostGIS, Leaflet, OpenStreetMap.

organize the collection of necessary information: lists of land tax payers, information on enterprises that are the main users of land within the community, master plans of settlements, normative monetary valuation of land, list of names of elements of the road network, information on communal lands provided in rent; a list of real estate that is accounted for on the balance sheet of the community and its utilities.

check the information for completeness and relevance, using GIS to enter this information into the database.

provide access to information on the current state and restrictions on land use in the community.

initiate a public discussion. This is done both to promote information on the use of community land, and to involve the public in the process of planning and rational use of land, as well as to ensure transparency in the disposal of community land.

Policy Memo № 3

Land management in AHs: little information & many problems

May 13, 2020 

1) What’s the issue? 

• Communities cannot plan activities due to lack of information on land resources and facilities located in its territory. The managers of this information are various public and private institutions, organizations and enterprises. In addition, information about the same objects obtained from different sources may differ.

    2) Why is it important? 

The financial implications for the people of the community due to inefficiently using community land resources. According to the Fiscal Service of Ukraine, in 2018 the payment for land was more than 13% of the total revenues of community budgets. At the same time, the lack of local budget revenues from land fees is one of the biggest problems facing communities.

This leads to conflicts between citizens and local authorities - due to uncertainty of the legal status of land plots, illegal refusal to meet the needs of citizens in land plots, etc. Peaceful protest of rural AH's citizens for the fair distribution of land outside the settlements: https://starosynjavska-gromada.gov.ua/news/1571927305/ and https://sokyryanska-gromada.gov.ua/news/15-51-12-08-06-2017/.

      3) What should policy makers do? 

to be create a detailed a scheme of modern land use in the community, which will reflect: land of all categories and forms of ownership in the community, the boundaries of land registered in the State Land Cadastre, land use restrictions.

to initiate public discussions and approval of this scheme of modern land use in the community.

to translate cartographic materials to one coordinate system, and electronic vector data - to one format.

to create an information database with the collected information and constantly keep this database up to date.

to provide citizens with access to this information database.

В Україні такі політичні документи використовуються рідко. Натомість у багатьох європейських країнах це є звичайною практикою. "Policy writing" дозволяє громадянам долучатися до вирішення проблем та прийняття рішень на рівні громад, а місцевій владі допомагає своєчасно помічати проблеми і розуміти різні бачення вирішень цих проблем.