The official inauguration of the projects held on February 11 was attended by Grygoriy Ioffe, First Deputy Chairman of Verkhovna Rada of AR Crimea, Valentyn Synytskyi, Dzhankoy City Mayor, Oksana Remiga, UNDP Senior Programme Manger, Iryna Skaliy, Project Manager of UNDP Project “Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme” (UNDP/MGSDP) and the representatives of UNDP/MGSDP.

 

Speaking at the press conference, Grygoriy Ioffepointed out that Crimean authorities actively support the initiatives of UNDP/MGSDP. “On behalf management of the Verkhovna Rada and Council of Ministers of AR Crimea, I express gratitude to the Programme specialists and participants. I hope that we will continue our cooperation in this area”, said First Deputy Chairman of Verkhovna Rada of AR Crimea.

 

UNDP/MGSDP has 10 partner municipalities in AR Crimea and 28 in total in Ukraine. The Dzhankoy City Council became Project’s partner in 2007 and established Municipal Support Unit (MSU) to mobilize local communities for improving of community members` living conditions.

 

The premises of the local, educational and training center and kindergarten required urgent reconstruction. Costs could not be covered neither from local budget nor by community contributions. With assistance provided by the MSU, the community members discussed and identified development priorities for improvement of studying conditions and applied to UNDP/MGSDP for support.

 

In 2009 the local communities implemented three projects in cooperation with UNDP/MGSDP and the Dzhankoy City Council worth UAH 446 thousand which benefited 1348 city residents.

 

Civil Society Organisation (SCO) “Dobroye Delo” of School #6 selected as a top priority capital reconstruction of school`s gym premises. Total cost of the project was UAH 152800, including contribution of the community - UAH 17800, contribution of the City Council - UAH 67500 and contribution of UNDP/MGSDP - UAH 67500. The local of the community projects in AR Crimea are financed under support of Canadian International Development Agency and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

 

 Oleksandr Bochkala, Director of school-gymnasium # 6 inspires other local communities for joint actions and shares experience: “The initiative should come from the community. The project should be thoroughly worked out before its implementation. In order to choose the right contractor, one should take into consideration not only the price, but the ability of the contractor to do required kinds of construction works, the availability of contractors own resources. The community-based organisation needs not only the financial support, but the consultations of the specialists in the field of legal advice and engineering supervision”.

 

The SCO “Rhythm” of the local educational and training center selected as a priority replacement of old windows with modern PVC windows. The previous capital reconstruction of the premises was performed 50 years ago and the windows and doors became obsolete, temperature regime in the premises could not be controlled properly which affected the studying process. Total cost of the project was UAH 152336, including UAH 17754 contributed by the SCO, UAH 67291 contributed by the City Council and UAH 67291 contributed by UNDP/MGSDP.

 

The sewage system of the kindergarten # 38 required urgent reconstruction because the pipes became rusty, had many leakages and clogging. Therefore, the priority was given of CSO “Topolek” of kindergarten# 38 to capital reconstruction of the toilets and sewage system.  Total cost of the project was UAH 150596, including UAH 15600 contributed by the local community members, and equal amounts in UAH 67498 were contributed by UNDP/MGSDP and by the the City Council. Successful completion of the project let significantly improve hygiene and sanitary conditions and eliminated negative impact on children attending the kindergarten.

UNDP/MGSDP enhanced the capacities of the local authorities, communities and city administration personnel through trainings, seminars and exposure visits. Specialists of UNDP/MGSDP conducted a training on establishing of effective community-based organization, trainings on HIV/AIDs prevention and web-site administration.  Due to the MSU efforts, local communities established 15 community-based organizations uniting 1300 city residents.

 

UNDP/MGSDP supported creation of modern official web-site of the Dzhankoy City Council (dzhankoi.org.ua) which is regularly updated with information on the activities of the City Council and news.

 

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 community-based organisations, academia and civil society organisations in 23 municipalities and 5 settlements of municipal type across Ukraine and other partners in private and public sectors. Together they apply various sustainable development mechanisms.

 

Since 2004, UNDP/MGSDP supported 232 local community projects with a total cost of UAH 26.3 mn. For more information on the Project's activities, please visit: http://msdp.undp.org.ua