Smart City: UNDP supports launch of mobile application for development of e-democracy in cities

June 5, 2020

Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, June 5, 2020 – From now on, residents of Druzhkivka, Sloviansk, Toretsk and Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast will be able to actively engage with the local authorities and play a key role in decision-making processes in their cities using their own smartphones, thanks to the application "Smart city​​.” The application will also help citizens promptly receive full information about important events happening in their communities.

The app is already available for download, in versions for both iOS and Android smartphones.

The application was developed by the “Centre for Civic Initiatives - CeGrIn Donbass” with the support of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, using funds provided by the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. In the fall of 2019, the team from the NGO “CeGrIn” was declared one of the winners of a hackathon for community development and solving social problems in Kharkiv, called “Hack for Locals,” which was held with the support of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme. The team developed a prototype, and later tested the application in the communities of Druzhkivka, Sloviansk, Toretsk and Vuhledar.

Olga Altunina, the head of the NGO “CeGrIn,” says city residents are happy that communicating with the local authorities has become easier, and the process of getting access to the service is not complicated.

"We hope that the local authorities will continue to regularly update the application with information that will be promptly and systematically disseminated through Smart City," she added.

The application has three main sections:

  • "My Alerts": here users are able to quickly receive relevant and full information from city officials and utility services;
  • "City Services": in this section of the application, citizens will be able to contact the mayor or deputy, send a request for public information, support a petition, or vote for a project in the local budget;
  • “Contacts”: this section allows users to quickly find contacts for emergency services, hotlines or medical facilities, and call or send an email without exiting the application.

"We’re very glad that thanks to our last year's hackathon we’ve managed to find proactive and talented citizens who, with their innovative solutions, can multiply positive changes in their own communities and develop effective digital services in eastern Ukraine," said Rustam Pulatov, the coordinator of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme’s  Social Cohesion and Community Security Component.

"At the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, we’re ready to support citizens with the initiative so that such services can be quickly scaled up and made equally accessible to all citizens in all cities of Ukraine."

The Smart City application will also promote the national digital transformation policy and the “State in a Smartphone” e-governance concept, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.

Media enquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Associate, the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org, +380 63 576 1839

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The programme is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union, the European Investment Bank and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.