Lviv-Novovolynsk (Lviv and Volyn Region), 17-18 June: Continuing the promotion of East-West unity, 25 mayors and representatives of the City Councils from  Eastern and Southern Ukraine have visited Lviv and Novovolynsk partner municipalities as part of an exposure visit. The participants learned the best practices in the areas of community mobilisation, innovative projects for fostering local development, elaborated recommendations for improving public service delivery and identified possible ways for strengthening regional cohesion between Eastern and Western Ukraine.

Experience shows that participants as well as hosts from both regions had full appreciation for social, economic and cultural strengths of each other and there existed good opportunities for their cooperation.

The ongoing visit to Lviv and Novovolynsk (Lviv and Volyn Region) attracted 25 representives from municipalities in  Crimea, Kirovske and Dzerzhysk (Donetsk Region), Romny (Sumy Region), Voznesnk (Mykolayiv Region), Kagarlyk (Kyiv Region), Zhytomyr and Novograd-Volynskiy (Zhytomyr Region), and Rubizhne (Lugansk Region).
 

“All of us want to live in a prosperous and successful country. The recipe for this is unity. And in order to have it we need to communicate and share our common experience. I am convinced that the experience of Lviv will be useful for other municipalities, in particular in area of service provision to the residents and alternatives to Zheks (Housing Municipal Services Communal Organisations). If we support each other today, we will become stronger tomorrow”, said Andriy Sadovyi, Lviv City mayor.
 

In Lviv the participants learned the experience of innovative projects in areas on e-governance, energy-saving, operation of Associations of Co-owners of Multi-Apartment Houses (ACMHs), youth and information policies.  The specialists of the City Council shared experience of innovative projects such as “Secret Client”, “Sociologic Service” and “Juridical Service for Lviv Residents”, telephone hotline. Around 15 representatives of Lviv and Novovolynsk City Councils benefited from the visit owing to exchange of experience with the guests.
 

Speaking at the press-conference in Lviv, Ricarda Rieger, UNDP Country Director said: “By supporting such visits the UN Development Programme creates an opportunity to our colleagues from 29 municipalities from different regions to share their experience in solving similar problems. In particular, they exchange their approaches to establishing effective dialogue between local authorities and communities, improving quality of life in Ukrainian municipalities, strategic planning and certification of municipal services”.
 

In Novovolynsk, the participants familiarised with unique experience of establishing Federation of Associations of Co-Owners of Multi-Apartment Houses, which provide better housing and municipal services to ACMHs of the municipality. In addition, they reviewed the service cooperatives and other local community-based organisations and learned the practices in attracting local resources for solving local development challenges.

Viktor Mandrus, Kirovske City Mayor said: “In 2006 and 2009, Kirovske municipality hosted East-West exposure visits. Such visits are useful for sharing successful practices of local development, establishing new contacts and inter municipal cooperation; therefore we are participating in this visit to the municipalities of Western Ukraine”.

Seven exchange visits were organized by the Programme in the past:  in 2006 – 3 exchange visits hosted by 6 municipalities (Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Novograd-Volynskiy, Novyy Svit, Kirovske, Mykolayiv);  in 2008 – 2 exchange visit hosted by 3 municipalities (Ivano-Frankivsk/Dolyna; Voznesensk); in 2009 – 2 exchange visits hosted by 4 municipalities (Kirovske/Artemivsk; Tulchyn/Mogyliv-Podilsky).

A total of 273 representatives from local governments (mayors, deputy mayors, department heads), entrepreneurs and citizens from 20 districts of Eastern and Western Regions participated in the exchange visits.
 

Participation of the decision-makers from the local self-government bodies in these events allowed concluding several lessons. 

First, exposure visits should be organised for the municipalities from East and West to the sites of best practices of strategic planning, certification of municipal services, and performance-based budgeting.
 

Second, systematic work should be established for solving the language problems between East and West to gather all the language dialects in Ukraine, and promote the national self-consciousness among the population, in particular youth. Cultural heritage and customs of all different regions of Ukraine should be promoted through the regular informational and cultural festivals, Centre of Popularization of the Regional Culture etc.

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 24 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 mln. For more information on the Project's activities, please visit: http://msdp.undp.org.ua