Regional Seminar

On July 6, 2011 in Zhytomyr State Administration a regional seminar presentation of the CBA Project was held.  In the seminar participated: International Project Manager Dr. Jaysingh Sah, a specialist in community development Poltavets Denis, Deputy Head of Regional State Administration Victor Balyurko, First Deputy Chairman of Regional Council Volodymyr Aryeshonkov, head of the Economic Administration Zinaida Yanchenko, heads of higher educational establishments, district governors and district councils, the heads of individual associations, media representatives and other guests. The implementation of phase I of the Project in Zhytomyr Region was summarized during the seminar. It was noted that during the period from March 2008 to June 6, 2011was executed 46 projects worth more than 6 million UAH. Of these, the European Union and UNDP financed almost 3.2 million. In their reports, the first deputy chairman of the Regional Council Volodymyr Aryeshonkov and Deputy Head of Regional State Administration Victor Balyurko thanked the Project for ongoing work. International Project Manager Dr. Jaysingh Sah presented phase II of the Project and expressed confidence that in the future cooperation between the Project and regional authorities will be fruitful and constructive. The seminar was to launch Phase II Project in Zhytomyr region and accepting applications from districts for competitive selection of participants in Phase II of the Project.

Election of the Districts Participants of the Project

On September 28, 2011 the leadership of CBA Project and a representative from the regional administration Zinaida Yanchenko (head of the Economic RSA) held the meeting of competitive commission on selection of districts participants of the second phase of the Project. As a result of the competition the following districs were elected: Emilchinsky, Olevsky, Chervonoarmiysky, Volodarsko-Volynsky, Zhytomyrsky and Korostyshivsky and  three reserve districs: Chudnivsky, Baranivsky and Chernyakhivsky.

On October 4, 2011 the agreement was signed between Zhytomyr Regional State Administration and EU and UN Development Programme CBA. The document was signed by RSA Chairman Sergiy Ryzhuk, Regional Council Chairman Yosyp Zapalovsky and Resident Representative of UNDP in Ukraine Mr. Olivier Adam, who came to Zhytomyr. The CBA Project is designed to contribute to sustainable socio-economic development at the local level by supporting and co-financing community initiatives. Head of Administration reported that the first phase of the project in Zhytomyr region began in March 2008. Its participants were eight districts of the districts - Andrushivsky, Korostyshivsky, Luhynsky, Lyubarsky, Olevsky, Chervonoarmiysky Cherniakhivsky and Chudnivsky.During three years 46 projects were made, of which 16 projects to repair the village health centers, 22 projects on energy saving, 5 - street lighting, 3 – water supply. The total cost of the works amounted to 6.18 million. "Despite practical effect, which was brought by cooperation within the Project it was a great step towards the convergence of our residents with European standards and principles of cooperation between communities and different levels of executive power and local self-government" - said Sergiy Ryzhuk. Mr. Adam Olivier said that he hoped for the leading role of regional authorities in implementing the second phase of the Project. Reference: II phase began on May 31, 2011 and will last until 31 May 2015. On May 31 in Brussels, Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement to extend the implementation of CBA Project in Ukraine. The budget of the second phase will be 17.1 million euros, of which: 98.4% - contribution of the EU and 1.6% - UNDP. Funding will be carried out in the following rates: 50% of costs will pay UNDP, 45% - local budgets (village, district and regional), 5% - rural and township communities which will implement selected projects (repair of schools, hospitals, water supply systems, environmental and energy efficiency).

Conducting of District Seminars

From 18 to 20 October 2011 regional seminars with presentation of phase II of EU-UNDP CBA Project were conducted in six districts participants (Zhytomyr, Chervonoarmiysky Volodarsko-Volynsky, Korostyshivsky, Emilchynsky and Olevsky. Launching of phase II and start of accepting applications for participants (village and town councils with population less than 10,000 citizen) were announced during the seminar. Heads of district administrations and district councils expressed gratitude to the leadership of the Project for the election of their districs to the main list and informed that the regional, local, village and town governments were ready to fulfill its obligations. The seminar attended representatives of regional, district authorities, city, town and village heads, heads of enterprises and organizations, public and media.

Zhytomyr District 18 Oct 2011

Yemilchynsky District 20 Oct 2011

Olevsk District 20 Oct 2011

15-16 November 2011 in Zhitomir city the training for contact person of the CBA Project from regional and district administrations of Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions was held. Denis Poltavets,CBA specialist, welcomed participants of the training and presented to the training participants the concept of sustainable development, social mobilization and local development, the role of communities and local authorities.

Also he Described the methodology of the Project, as a practical tool for local development, and gave brief information about the European Union and United Nations Development Programme. In his speech Denis Poltavets told in detail about the goals, objectives and strategy for project execution, execution cycles, and also introduced single-step overview of the project and the role of liaison officers in the development of partnerships and institutional development (CO, local development forums, regional coordinating councils, maturity of community organizations, local planning, prioritizing plans).

Oleg Baranetsky (project engineer) spoke on the method of approving and implementing micro-project proposal (design-budget documentation, examination, approval procedure). In the specific example the training participants were familiarized with the allocation strip and other resources for its implementation, tendering, signing of contracts for construction works, quality control, transfer of the balance and its supporting after the completion of the project.

Tatiana Diyeva, specialist in Public Relations, presented the participants presentation of the training support of donors, organize events during the donor and other visits, monitoring and evaluation of participation and activities of associations. It was also noted taht there is the need of transparency of micro-project (the role of local media, project website, reports and brochures, etc.).

On December 16 Denist Poltavets, a specialist in community development, visited Zhytomyr Region.The purpose of the visit was to study the state of implementation in the second phase of the Project, which started on 6 July 2011. During the visit there were organized meetings with Head of Distrivt State Administration of Korostyshiv Kotenko N.M., Zhytomyr Regional State Administration Kulyk A.E., First Deputy Chairman of Regional Council Aryeshonkov V.Y., advisor to the Chairman of Regional Council Chudovsky V.A., Deputy Chief of the Economic Administration Makarenko V.P.

The main issue that was discussed during the meetings, was the prospect of assisting communities in implementing their micro-projects and improvement of life. Also there was a briefing for journalists.

In his speech, Mr. Denis Poltavets noted that for objective reasons Zhytomyr Region began implementation of the project two months later than other regions because at this stage it is not compared with other regions. On October 4 there was signed a cooperation agreement between the State Administration, Regional Council and the UN Development Programme CBA. A selection of districts participants of the second phase of the Project and regional seminars on presentation of the Project were held, which were attended by nearly 300 representatives of regional and district authorities, rural and village heads, heads of enterprises. businesses and media. In all the selected districts were announced a competition for participation in the project among the village / city / municipal councils. The rating selection of village council participants of the second phase of the Project had been held (totaly 24 main town\village councils and 12 reserve ones of 84 applications for the project). Features of the second phase were noted, attention was paid to microprojects of energy efficiency using innovative technology, economic projects and their funding.