Kyiv, 22 June: The second phase of EU/UNDP Community Based Approach to Local Development Project was launched at the extended meeting of the national Steering Committee. Representatives of UNDP Ukraine, EU Delegation to Ukraine, key Ministries, parliamentary committees, associations of local councils, 22 oblast administrations / councils participated in the event, summing up achievements of 3.5 years activities on community empowerment.
The 4th meeting of CBA Steering Committee was chaired by Ricarda RIEGER, UNDP Country Director and Mira DIDUKH, Project manager from EU Delegation to Ukraine.
Upon presentation of the results of CBA-I, Members of Steering Committee were expressed their feedbacks and vision.
Fedir PANASIUK, Head of Department on Local Governance, Interregional Cooperation and Administrative-Territorial Set-up of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing of Ukraine took note of the Project’s scale as the biggest in Ukraine since its independence. Its most important result is the change of the worldview of rural communities. The community organizations should remain proactive in their attitude towards planning and looking for sources of funding for their initiatives, and local governments should assist and support communities in their attempts.
Olha ROMANYUK, Deputy Minister of Housing and Communal Services took note that the majority of implemented micro-projects belong to the housing sector (energy saving, water supply etc). CBA Project managed to overcome the stereotype that citizens are not ready to contribute financially to the local development projects: Project data shows that communities invested 7% instead of the planned 5%.
Regional experience of community based development was presented by Mr Dmytro Orlov, Head of Department on International Cooperation and External Economic Activities of Poltavska oblast state administration. He qualified the results of CBA activities as “little revolution at the community level” and highly appreciated the importance of the capacity building component.
Myroslava DIDUKH, Project manager from EU Delegation referred to numerous positive feedbacks from stakeholders and beneficiaries which constituted the main rationale for the EU to approve the second phase of CBA Project and increase its budget to EUR 17 mln.
Myroslava DIDUKH presented the vision and strategy of Project’s second phase. During the next 4 years, at least 900 communities will benefit from cooperation with CBA. Energy efficiency will be in focus of CBA-II, and support to agricultural cooperatives will be introduced as an additional priority. More information about Community Based Approach to Local Development-II can be found at: http://cba.org.ua/en/about/about-cba.
As noted by Ricarda Rieger, UNDP Country Director, the wealth of experience generated during a decade of experiments by UNDP-led projects in Ukraine, now deserve consolidation and the lessons learned ought to be put into longer term use. CBA-II aims to achieve this objective through knowledge management, curriculum development and model replication and with fruitful cooperation of academia and regional authorities across the country.
The presentation evoked a lively discussion in participation of the members of Steering Committee and oblast partners. In particular Tetyana MATIYCHYK, Head of Unit, Department Of Cooperation with Verkhovna Rada and the Regions, CBA Coordinator from Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, highlighted the need to link the work at grass root level with the attempts to influence improvement of policy environment for community based development. CBA Project has a unique scale allowing to accumulate and analyze issues related to community involvement in local development processes. Based on this analysis, CBA Project could be in the position to elaborate and promote relevant policy recommendations.
Yuriy VOLOSHYN, Head of the Sector of System Projects of International Financial Organizations, Department of International Technical Assistance and Cooperation with International Financial Organizations of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine expressed his hope that the second phase of CBA Project will provide a platform for exchange of experience on community based development between the regions.
Representative of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy, Valentyna ZAETS proposed to coordinate activities of several national programs on rural development with CBA Project. Cooperation with ‘agrarian’ universities under the Ministry could be established to work jointly on teaching modules/courses on local development.
Following institutions were represented during the fourth CBA Steering Committee meeting: Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Communal Services, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Agrarian Policy, Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport, State Agency on Energy, Efficiency, and Energy Conservation of Ukraine, Foundation for Local Self-government under President of Ukraine, Ukrainian Association of Oblast and Rayon Councils, All-Ukrainian Association of Local Governments ‘Association of Cities of Ukraine’, All-Ukrainian Association of Heads of Village and Settlement Councils, Ukrainian Union of Rural Communal Infrastructure ‘UKRSILCOMUNGOSP’ under Ministry of Agricultural Policy, Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government, Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Labour.
