February 21-22, Lviv - Ivano-Frankivsk: Olivier Adam, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine, visited Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk municipalities. Mr Adam appreciated the achievements of the municipalities in internalising the community-based local development approach in the context of UNDP Project "Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme”. The Project supports introduction of municipal services quality management system in Lviv, supports the exchange of experiences between Eastern and Western Ukraine and provides training for local Associations of Co-Owners of Multi-Apartment Houses. The municipality of Ivano-Frankivsk implemented more than 80 local community projects. The institutions are established that reinforce "bottom up" decision-making process on local development. City implements the innovative projects aimed at energy efficiency and effective solid waste management jointly with the local communities.
During his visit to Lviv, Olivier Adam, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine met with local authorities and visited the Resource Center for Support of Associations of Co-Owners of Multi-Apartment Houses (ACMHs) and Center for servicing city residents. Lviv municipality became a partner of UNDP Project "Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme" (UNDP/MGSDP) in November 2006. In the framework of cooperation, the Municipal Support Unit of community initiatives was established at the City Council which was later transformed into Resource Center for support of ACMHs, where city residents can receive all necessary information on ACMHs, how to establish it and which tasks it performs etc.
Facilitating establishing ACMHs is one of the priorities of the executive bodies of the Lviv City Council and 416 ACMHs are registered in Lviv. Also, the session of the City Council adopted decision № 2693 from 18.06.2009 "On Approval of Programme for Support for Establishing and Operation of ACMHs in Lviv Municipality for 2009-2012", which includes the basic principles of social mobilisation and community-based approach to local development, implemented by UNDP/MGSDP.
Mr Adam also praised the efforts of municipality in sharing experience with other cities of Ukraine and other countries. Within the cooperation, the city and UNDP the visit held a visit in June 2010 for 25 mayors of municipalities from Eastern and Southern Ukraine to Lviv in order to reach understanding between East and West. The participants got familiarised with Center for servicing residents, municipal hotline, city project "Secret Client", legal service, experience of involving volunteers for internship in the city council. The participants developed recommendations for improving housing and municipal services provision and identified possible ways of achieving mutual understanding between Eastern and Western Regions of Ukraine.
"We cooperate with the Lviv City Council to improve a variety of services. In other municipalities we directly supported the projects of ACMHs, so that people handled the problems of their houses. ... We believe that under the new administrative reform, the role of city councils will be strengthened. We also believe that Lviv can become a pioneer in establishing transparent governance systems. Today we discussed a number of ideas and we believe that soo, we and our partners from the European Union will support local initiatives.
We have projects that are going on now. Their purpose is to strengthen the role of ACMHs. We help them to determine their urgent needs, but the municipality helped them meet those needs. We also discussed the efforts of the city to improve a range of services, including introduction of municipal services quality management system ISO as well as improving the work with the residents not only through introducing an information portal, but also through call-center, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week", said Olivier Adam.
In order to improve municipal governance in 2010-2011, raising transparency in decision making and professional development of personnel of the City Council, UNDP supported the introduction of municipal services quality management system ISO 9001:2008. Total project cost is UAH 100 thousand. It includes the cost of training, equipment, consultative services and information materials. Introduction of quality management system ISO will improve working conditions for 1325 of city administration specialists and will increase the quality of municipal services to 800 thousand city residents.
On February 22, Olivier Adam, visited the municipality of Ivano-Frankivsk and met Victor Anushkevychus, Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor and marked internalization of community-based local development approach for implementation of joint socio-economic and environmental initiatives. During the visit Olivier Adam visited the Resource Centre for Sustainable Development and ACMH "Pivdenne", which in 2008 implemented the project "Reconstruction dual-slope roof" under the support of UNDP/MGSDP.
Municipality of Ivano-Frankivsk is a partner of the UNDP/MGSDP since 2004 and it widely uses approach of involving local communities. Since 2004, in partnership with UNDP/MGSDP the municipality supported 80 community projects for sustainable development. The total cost of the local community projects in Ivano-Frankivsk is UAH 10.9 mln., including UAH 2.44 million. (22.31% of total cost) - UNDP contribution, UAH 701 thousand (6.41%) - the contribution of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and UAH 114 thousand (1.04%) - the contribution of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ukraine. Also, UAH 6.27 million (57.34%) was provided by the city council and 1.29 million (11.81%) - local communities, UAH 120 thousand (1,09%) - third parties. In total more than 41 thousand city residents have benefited from the projects, including 13 thousand women, 9 thousand men and 19 thousand children. After internalising Programme approach in 2008, the City Council together with local communities have implemented 20 projects without the financial support of UNDP / MGSDP.
In context of partnership the following institutions were established: Municipal Support Unit, which was later transformed into NGOs “Resource Centre for Sustainable Development”, community organisations, Municipal Council for Sustainable Development as an advisory Forum to the mayor, Association of Community Organisations (the Council of Housing Committees and ACMHs Chairs) and a schools network. These organisations are the institutional basis for "bottom up" decision-making process.
To support community initiatives and promote decision-making with involvement of communities, Municipal Support Unit (MSU) was established in Ivano-Frankivsk, which later was transformed into Resource Center for sustainable development. The Centre provides advice to local communities, trainings on local sustainable development and research (since 2005, 135 training activities were held).
To internalise the approach of community involvement in decision making process the Municipal Sustainable Development Council (MSDC) was established. The main goal is to create conditions for practicing the principles of sustainable development. The MSDC involves communities, educational institutions, NGO networks and local businesses to transparent dialogue with local authorities and the development of integrated local planning mechanisms for involving local communities. Following the successful example of Ivano-Frankivsk, MSDC have also been established in five cities-partners of UNDP/MGSDP – Rivne, Novograd-Volynskiy, Novovolynsk, Rubizhne and Voznesensk.
Owing to the mobilisation of local communities in Ivano-Frankivsk in the context of cooperation with UNDP/MGSDP residents became more willing and ready for joint efforts to improve the environment of the city. This was a prerequisite for the development of municipal-level projects for innovative mechanisms for collecting, sorting, processing and disposal of solid waste, with the participation of local communities.
For more details, please, contact Galyna Smirnova, UNDP/MGSDP Monitoring and Communication Officer, by tel: (044) 584-34-75 or e-mail: galyna.smirnovaATundp.org.ua
