On December 28, the scientific and practical conference “Local Sustainable Development: Theoretical and Practical Aspects" was held and its participants have adopted the recommendations for government and local self-government bodies for improving the management for transition to local sustainable development. The conference was organized by the Academy of Municipal Management jointly with UNDP-led Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme.

 

UNDP applies community-based approach to human development since 1992 through its local development Programmes, including the Crimea Integration and Development Programme, Chornobyl Recovery and Development Programme, Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme and Community Based Approach to Local Development. In course of their implementation, it turned out that very few people are familiar with community-based approach to local sustainable development and mechanism of public-private partnership for its promotion. Therefore, the National Forum of Partner Universities was established in 2006 and the curriculum on “Sustainable Development of Society” was elaborated by the Academy of Municipal Management jointly with Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme. For the first time in Ukraine, teaching of this course was introduced at the Academy of Municipal Management (Kyiv); this process is at preparatory stage also at the National University of Water Economy and Nature Management (Rivne) and the Institute of Chemical Technologies of the Eastern-Ukrainian National University Named after Volodymyr Dal` (Rubizhne, Luhansk region).

 

 

Participants of the Conference widely discussed the need of effective work at local level to promote the nation-wide establishment of the sustainable development. In this context, Yuriy Mal’chyn, the Honored Rector, First Vice-Rector of the Academy of Municipal Management, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor, said: «Consuming natural resources and affecting environment, people must think about themselves and their descendants. This demands deep scientific research, wide work on raising public awareness, formulation of the principles of new governance, especially and foremost at the local level».

 

To support his opinion, Volodymyr Udovychenko, Slavutych City Mayor, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor reiterated that introduction of energy-efficiency in the municipalities, energy-saving technologies in communal and housing sector, modern technologies of collection and utilization of garbage and emissions are the important components of sustainable economic local development. «To implement these development priorities, applying 12 principles of good democratic governance approved by the Council of Europe is very important for strategic planning of municipal sustainable development; along with the efforts to introduce the quality management system according to ISO 9001- 2001».

 

In their work on changing the governance practices towards democracy and citizen-based approach, local governments lack competent human resources knowledgeable in sustainable development and public-private partnership concepts. “To facilitate the process of preparing future generation of competent human resources at national level, we should introduce European Strategy for Sustainable Development into national education, special courses in the universities and post-graduate institutes, develop and introduce trainings on sustainable development for enhancing professionalism of current state and local public servants and local councilors”, said Anatoliy Sadovenko, Academic Secretary of the Academy of Municipal Management.

 

At the same time, there are practical experiences and best practices of applying the community-based development approach in Ukraine to demonstrate its effectiveness and viability in rural and urban areas. As it was informed by Jaysingh Sah, International Project Manager of EU/UNDP Project “Community-Based Approach to Local Development”: “UNDP-led community based approach is being implemented all over Ukraine (25 regions, more than 200 rayons, more than 1200 villages/city councils, more than 1600 local communities, more than 600,000 households). Unfortunately, available human resources do not satisfy the national demand for community-based approach dissemination. Therefore, introduction of the course “Sustainable development of Society” at Universities is highly recommended”.

 

The participants of the conference included Tetyana Tymochko, First Vice-Chairman the All-Ukrainian Ecological League, Vice-Rector of the Academy of Municipal Management; Gennadiy Marushevskiy, Vice-Chairman of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine; Oleksandr Vlasenko, First Vice-Chairman of the Fund for Facilitation of Local Self-Government of Ukraine; Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor; Valery Pustovoytenko, Head of Department of Management of Urban Economy of the Academy of Municipal Management, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Professor; Roman Kishkan', Chief of Department of Ecological Safety of Donetsk City Council, and others.

 

Recommendations of the Conference which will be sent to the Government of Ukraine, specialized committees of Verkhovna Rada, national NGOs working in the area of local self-government, and other development agencies, recommended a number of activities for state bodies, educational institutions and civil society organizations to improve legal and policy environment for community-based development approach in Ukraine.