Do young people have access to information about the funding of youth programs from local budgets?

This was exactly the topic of the discussion that took place on June 26, on the eve of Youth Day and the Day of the Fundamental Law of Ukraine at the Lviv Press Club of Reforms.

Representatives of youth public organizations, student self-government bodies, and civic activists from Lviv and Volyn oblasts took part in the event. Representatives of government bodies that work with youth did not express a desire to participate in the discussion. Within the framework of the event, the following issues were discussed: access to information that youth and organizations today need in order to participate in youth policy and youth programs; the results of all-Ukrainian and local monitoring of the information content of government bodies' websites regarding youth programs and their funding; the state of active access by youth to information about the activities of government bodies by submitting information requests; problems in realizing the rights of youth and youth organizations to information about youth programs and their funding in the oblasts; the effectiveness of means of restoring violated rights. Project manager Yaroslav Khauliak noted that "the most closed information is that about funding competitions, decision-making, implementation and reporting on budget funds allocated for youth programs, that is, everything relating to budget funds. The very possibility of youth and youth public organizations participating in youth programs, the quality of events and the transparency of the use of taxpayers' funds depend on the availability of access to such information." The event was conducted by the Committee for Support of Student Self-Government in partnership with the Association of Young Reformers (AMoRe) and the Center for Public Advocacy within the framework of the project "Realization and Protection of the Right to Information about Youth Programs" with the support of the "Rule of Law" program of the International Renaissance Foundation. The project aims to improve the realization and protection of the right of access to information about youth programs and their funding at the national and local levels, and to train and activate organizations in realizing and protecting the right to information.