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On December 30, 2024, in Kharkiv, our non-governmental organization “Research Center of Economic and Legal Solutions in the Area of Application of Distributed Ledger Technologies” signed a memorandum of cooperation with the NGO “Single Source” (Kharkiv).

The foundation of our partnership is a shared desire to promote the development of genuine, not just declarative, direct local democracy in Ukraine with the help of digital platforms and solutions. We are joining forces to help citizens actively participate in solving problems in their territories through bodies of self-organization of the population (BSPs) in collaboration with local authorities.

We are convinced that the key to the success of this mission is the implementation of advanced, comprehensive digital (platform) solutions based on distributed ledger technology (blockchain). Our Research Center has deep expertise in this area and is ready to contribute our developments and capabilities of the Ukrainian blockchain ecosystem Bitbon System to achieve our common goals.

Among the key areas of our cooperation:

• Creating an integrated innovative model of interaction between civil society institutions, the population, and donors at the local level using digital solutions;
• Transforming BSPs into real representatives of local community interests and drivers of bottom-up territorial development;
• Developing and launching a pilot digital service to support BSP activities based on the Bitbon System blockchain ecosystem;
• Tokenizing the social capital and reputation of BSP activists to incentivize their effectiveness and accountability;
• Training and exchange of experience to enhance the digital competencies of BSP representatives and local self-government bodies.

We see great prospects in combining the potential of our organizations. The technological expertise of our Research Center, multiplied by the many years of experience of NGO “Single Source” in developing BSPs, can produce a unique synergistic effect. The Kharkiv region has every chance to become a pilot region for “rebooting” the institution of self-organization of the population on a new technological basis.

From here, we can scale best practices to the entire country and beyond, contributing to strengthening democracy in Ukraine by expanding the powers and opportunities of local communities.

Already in December 2024, we developed a detailed scientific and practical project of the Concept for the inclusive and digital development of self-organization of the population at the local level in Ukraine for 2025-2030. Subsequently, in January-February 2025, a detailed action plan and roadmap will be developed and discussed, considering the resources available to the signing parties for implementation already in 2025.

We have joint work ahead on developing a technical task for the pilot project, possible grant programs from global donors, and attracting stakeholders at various levels and additional resources for its implementation in the medium term.

Background Bodies of self-organization of the population (BSPs) are the most important element of local democracy and civil society. They allow citizens to directly participate in solving issues of local importance and influence the development of their territories. In Ukraine, the legal status, procedure for the creation, and activities of BSPs are regulated by the Law “On Bodies of Self-Organization of the Population”. According to this law, which was adopted in 2001, BSPs are formed on a territorial basis and operate within a building, street, block, neighborhood, etc. They have their own powers, within which they act independently and are responsible for their activities in accordance with the law. BSPs are not local self-government bodies but must cooperate closely with them to effectively solve problems of local significance.