From Bureaucratic Barriers to Clear Pathways: PARASOL Empowers Communities for Growth

Have you ever felt frustrated by complex bureaucracy standing in the way of bringing important ideas for your community to life? This very question became central at a recent PARASOL project workshop, where representatives of active communities from Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Rivne regions joined forces with leading project experts, the respected Bankwatch Network, and academics to break down outdated barriers.

Today's reality is that state project evaluation systems, designed to support communities, often become a real maze for small and medium-sized communities.
Opaque rules and convoluted procedures breed distrust and disillusionment. Is it fair that truly important initiatives drown in a sea of incomprehensible requirements?

Every resident feels the consequences of this problem:

• Communities lose faith in fairness and transparency in decision-making.
• Support may be granted to ineffective and non-transparent projects that fail to meet the actual needs of the people.
• The community’s voice remains unheard, and its potential—untapped.
• Instead of development, communities feel a declining ability to influence their own future.
• Projects that have already lost their relevance are often proposed, leading to the waste of already limited resources.
• The dream of a better future shatters against the lack of clear guidance on where to find funding.
• Unique opportunities, such as energy efficiency solutions, go unnoticed due to a lack of knowledge and support.
• Local budgets, instead of working for the community, may be inefficiently dispersed on long-term and questionable initiatives.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Participants of the PARASOL project workshop are determined to change this. Together, they are working on creating a revolutionary, simple, transparent, and effective methodology that will serve as a real compass for small and medium-sized communities in the world of project management.

Our goal is to transform a complex and closed evaluation process into a clear and open tool
—one where every community can clearly see the value of its ideas and have a real opportunity to bring them to life!

This workshop became the first step toward real change. Experts of the PARASOL project and representatives of the Bankwatch Network joined forces with CSOs, local governments, and researchers to provide Ukrainian communities with a reliable tool for sustainable development.

Follow our updates to stay informed and learn how the PARASOL project is helping communities unlock their potential and build a better future—starting today!

Together, we will make the development process of communities transparent, understandable, and effective!

The workshop was organized by the NGO "Center for International Cooperation and Project Implementation" and the RcErBs Foundation, with the participation of researchers from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.