2-3 April, Yaremche (Ivano-Frankivsk Region): Local self-government bodies should be in the centre of Ukrainian public administration reform. About 40 officials representing local and regional self-government bodies from Western and Central Ukraine have called for this during a workshop, which was organized by a UNDP-led Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme under support from Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
The workshop attracted mayors and local councillors from 18 UNDP partner municipalities. The participants enhanced their capacities in social mobilization, learned the intricacies of decentralization and improved their skills in strategic, operational and financial planning for effective local governance and improved citizens' participation in decision-making processes at the Regional level.
As the workshop participants say, improving capacities of central and local governments to decentralize fiscal and administrative powers and responsibilities would improve conditions of local government and livelihoods of people in urban Ukraine.
During the workshop the participants received updated information on decentralisation as a complex multi-faceted concept, which led to a heated discussion about the role of transferring authority and responsibility in public functions from the central to local government.
The workshop's module on decentralisation and effective local self-government was moderated by Igor Koliushko, Head of the Centre for Policy and Legal Reforms.
"Ukraine has exhausted the opportunities of natural (spontaneous) development. The future depends on the pace of implementing further reforms. Decentralization constitutes to be one of the key reforms. It should be based on administrative and territorial reform, reform of executive government bodies at central and local levels and reform of local self-governance. By combining these measures it would improve the overall quality of public services for communities, increase the responsibility of local communities for quality of their lives and increase the efficiency of social organization", Igor Koliushko said.
Other modules of the training were devoted to types and aspects of decentralisation - citizens' participation, strategic planning, operational planning and financial planning, as well as the module on social mobilisation based on the experience of UNDP/MGSDP in promoting participatory municipal sustainable governance in Ukraine.
The topic of operational planning was presented by Bohdan Bilyk, Head of Economic and International Development Department of Executive Committee of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council and Municipal Coordinator in Ivano-Frankivsk municipality.
He stressed on the importance of enhancing professionalism of local officials. "Developing capacities of local authorities and sharing experience in decentralisation and operational planning are vitally important for increasing budget revenues, reform of communal and housing economy and whole life of municipality", said Bohdan Bilyk.
In conditions of low fiscal autonomy in Ukraine the presentation of Sergiy Sluhai, an expert of Association of Cities of Ukraine on financial planning met great interest. In period of financial crisis and drastic decline of revenues, these questions should be considered at the national level, municipalities should undertake own efforts for increasing the revenues and reducing expenditures. To reduce the expenditures, the expert recommended to promote public-private partnership, reduce administrative expenditures, optimize budget (institutional) network, support saving of energy and other resources.
UNDP/MGSDP supports partner-municipalities in improving quality of governance; therefore introduction of Municipal Services Quality Management System in compliance with ISO 9001:2000 was piloted in Voznesensk. In order to assess the results of introduction of quality management system, the surveys were conducted in September 2007 and October 2008. According to the results, 36% of the respondents said that the quality of municipal services delivered by executive committee of the city council has improved after introduction of system ISO 9001:2000. Vasyl Fedorov, First Deputy of Voznesensk city mayor presented the stages, benefits for city administration personnel and population and results of introduction of system ISO 9001:2000.
After all, the essence of decentralisation is rationalising improving the delivery of public services in a way that benefits the communities and citizens at a maximum.
In this context, the practical experience of application of community-based approach presented by Mykola Borovets, Novograd-Volynskiy City Mayor was a proof that social mobilization and community-based approach are applied with success in context of the Ukrainian municipalities. Moreover, social mobilization simulates creative approach to working with local communities, promotes reaching social consensus and creates viable links and mutual responsibility within local authorities and local communities.
UNDP/MGSDP was initiated in 2004 for promoting democratic governance aimed at improving the livelihoods of people in urban areas across Ukraine under the framework of public-private partnership. The Programme cooperates with local communities of citizens, academia, small businesses and civil society organizations in 22 municipalities across Ukraine and other partners in private and public sectors. Together they apply various sustainable development mechanisms. Since 2004, UNDP/MGSDP supported 172 local community projects with total cost of UAH 20.2 mn. For more information on the Project's activities, please visit: http://msdp.undp.org.ua
For more details, please, contact Galyna Gulenko, Monitoring and Communications Officer of UNDP/MGSDP, by tel. +3 8044 501 4203 or via e-mail: galyna.gulenko@undp.org.ua.
