REDEMOS represents a unique, parallel investigation of the legacy and potential of democratization processes in the EU’s eastern neighbourhood. Analyzing both EU actions and eastern neighbours' responses, balancing the impact of funding, reforms and civil society support against a decade of static and regressive outcomes, REDEMOS is grounded upon an appraisal of domestic and geopolitical challenges facing neighbourhood democratization, and progressive practices needed for both sides to re-engage. With its highly original, 4-phase demos cycle, REDEMOS breaks new ground in demonstrating how revived approaches to understanding norms and values, and reinforced implementation of procedures and practices can fully transform both attitudes and outcomes from passive democracy promotion to active democracy collaboration. Hence, REDEMOS bridges numerous divides emerging between 2010-2022 and focuses on the overarching need to reconstitute a workable ‘demos’ within Eastern partners in light of sizeable political changes including outright opposition to democratization practices from within and beyond the neighbourhood. REDEMOS’ vision shifts attitudes beyond an exclusionary focus on values, norms and procedures, to inclusive democratic practices through citizen empowerment. Featuring a work package female-led structure, REDEMOS presents a series of pioneering milestones and deliverables, based on an equitable balance of 11 high-quality East and West European partners. Its geographical composition is representative of the eastern neighbourhood, with each partner focused on providing advanced tools by which the EU and its eastern neighbours can reset democracy in state and non-state environments. Balancing state reform, civil society, marginalized and local perspectives, and its impactful dissemination modes, REDEMOS effectively co-creates new links within and between academic, policy and civil society domains to boost democratization in Europe’s eastern neighbourhood.

The BRIDGE project aims to boost the innovation capacity of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE, Ukraine) with particular attention to research-to-policy transfer over a pressing policy problem: the role of decision support and deliberative formats for citizen participation (citizen assembly) in the reconstruction of housing and infrastructures, destroyed by the Russian war against Ukraine. The project fills broader gaps in public administration theories and practice on how to blend representative and participatory models of democracy during crisis situations to achieve efficient and legitimate policy outcomes in democracies. To achieve this goal, KSE has partnered with three excellent institutions - Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR, the Netherlands), Berlin University of Technology (TU Berlin, Germany) and University of Tartu (UTARTU, Estonia). Partners bring complementary expertise in developing and studying digital democratic innovations, such as citizen assemblies, and using public governance approaches to research and improve the adoption and diffusion of digital innovations. Hackathons, site visits, peer-to-peer mentoring, online workshops and secondments serve to unleash the Kyiv School of Economics’ potential in three capacity domains: (i) contribution to ongoing methodological and empirical-analytical debates in the academic literature, (ii) bridging the knowledge gap with policymakers and professionals, and (iii) organisational capacity to sustainably secure grants and research funds for KSE’s ongoing organisational development, talent acquisition and preventing brain drain. For maximum effectiveness, KSE will apply acquired knowledge to a pilot study of digital recovery system DREAM and its participatory module eDem, including a design and assessment of a pilot digital citizen assembly on a municipal level.

SUN4Ukraine aims to bring together Ukrainian cities with the EU 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, through capacity building, technical expertise, twinning, multi-level governance and policy to support them in adopting climate neutrality targets and incorporating climate neutrality into reconstruction plans. SUN4Ukraine will select and work closely with 10 Ukrainian frontrunner cities who will receive technical support and participate in a capacity building programme to develop Climate Neutrality Plans, aiming for climate neutrality by 2050. A needs assessment will be undertaken to understand the specific needs of each of the frontrunners informing detailed design of support. Technical support will guide frontrunners through the process of setting targets and the gap to be filled, identifying mitigation actions, engaging citizens and establishing new governance, designing Climate Neutrality Plans, and funding/financing their implementation. Connections with funders and financiers will also be made to facilitate implementation. The capacity building programme will build the skills and capabilities of frontrunners, and include at its core, the peer learning, exchanges and study visits of frontrunners to Mission cities. A Ukrainian Cities Climate Hub will be established to bring frontrunners and other Ukrainian cities together to encourage mentoring, ongoing partnerships and replication. The lessons learned from technical support and the capacity building programme will be synthesised into guidance made available via the Hub and Mission Platform. Policy dialogues and recommendations, and good practices on multi-level governance will be developed to ensure Ukrainian cities can become climate neutral by 2050. A targeted communication and dissemination strategy will complement and support implementation. SUN4Ukraine will bring increased visibility to the Cities Mission and achieving its second objective of all European cities becoming climate neutral by 2050.