In 2000 during the UN Millennium Summit in New York Ukraine signed the Millennium Declaration and in that way took the responsibility of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) till 2015. One of the targets for Ukraine is increasing access of population to safe drinking water by 12% before 2015.

 

Safe drinking water provision remains one of major problems in many regions of Ukraine. Solving this problem is necessary for protecting health, improving work conditions and quality of life for millions of citizens. In 2009 centralized water supply was available in all municipalities, 767 of settlements of urban type (86.5% of all Ukrainian settlements) and 6283 villages (22%). The progress on this Ukrainian MDG remains very low; therefore it is necessary to unite public and private sectors  for increasing the access of the population to clean drinking water.

 

In 2009 UNDP and Coca-Cola Company Ukraine (under support of TM Bon Aqua) launched joint project “Every Drop Matters” (EDM). Due to this project, 15 communities in villages and municipalities in 12 regions of Ukraine revived natural water sources. The EDM project is aimed at increasing access to safe drinking water, facilitating the use of environmentally sound industrial technologies, and promoting responsible water resource management. Implementation of the EDM Project is done through school communities in the framework of public-private partnership.

 

On February 22, the meeting of EDM Annual Steering Committee was held in Kyiv to review  project  progress  and plan new activities in 2010. The participants discussed prolongation of the EDM Project for 2010 in cooperation with UNDP.

 

On February 23, the members of the Steering Committee visited Novograd-Volynsky municipality and reviewed local project sites, interacted with local communities.

 

Novohrad-Volynskiy municipality has been a partner of UNDP Project “Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme” since 2005. Ever since, it has used widely the community-based development approach and supported 21 communities in carrying out their local sustainable development projects amounting to UAH 3.6 mln, generating direct benefits to about 30 thousand citizens of the municipality and revealing outstanding partnership results among local authorities, entrepreneurs and international donors for the communities in this picturesque North-Western region of Ukraine.

 

Mykola Borovets, Novograd-Volynsky City Mayor expressed gratitude to Coca-Cola Company  and UNDP for support in creating water complexes which provide high quality drinking water to city residents. Novograd-Volynsky City Mayor said that both local authorities and local communities participate eagerly in projects related to water supply because they underrstand the influence of water on quality of life and health. Based on local experience, Mykola Borovets suggested Steering Committee of EDM to support not only revival of natural water sources, but also construction of water complexes (pump rooms) as they provide access to water for large amounts of population.

 

The delegation visited the community organization of school #5 and reviewed the project site on roof reconstruction, façade repair and energy efficiency.  School #5 is one of the most active members and co-foundors of the NGO “School Network of Novograd-Volynskiy” which initiated and implemented the project on natural source renovation for the benefit of the territorial community. “We are proud to use this chance to undertake this development initiative for the benefit of the whole population of our city, which is our way to thank the territorial community and the local government for continuous support to our own small development projects in education sector. The rehabilitated water source provides water to more than 8 thousand people of the microrayon”, said Larysa Kapchynska, Head of the NGO.

 

Later, the delegation tasted water from the natural water source rehabilitated under EDM Project support in 2009. The school children actively contributed to project implementation by cleaning the territory before and after construction works. The project was worth UAH 77 thousand, including UAH 38.5 thousand contributed by UNDP, UAH 30.8 thousand contributed by the City Council and 7.7 thousand collected by community members.  Renovation of the water complex allowed lessening the demand for water from other sources of the municipality.

 

Another visited community organization was the Microrayon Committee “Gromadsky Progres /Community Progress/” (uniting 26 apartment buildings), which in 2007 constructed potable water complex providing access to drinking water for more than 2  thousand dwellers. There was high demand for water from this source and people from other districts of the municipality and adjacent villages came for the water.

 

The participants of the delegation included Andrey Pogrebnyak, Assistant Director (Operations Manager) of UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre, Bogachan Benli, Regional Project Coordinator, Every Drop Matters Regional Water Partnership, Iryna Skaliy, UNDP/MGSDP Project Manager, Olena Ursu, UNDP/MGSDP Governance and Sustainable Development Expert, Yuliya Shcherbinina, UN Public-Private Partnerships Officer and Tatyana Kudina, Programme Assistant, EDM Project Coordinator.

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

 

More pictures can be reviewed in part “Photo Gallery” by following the link http://msdp.undp.org.ua/index.php?photogallery=1&album_id=6