On 5-6th of October, 2006 representatives of 6 universities of Ukraine (1 each from Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Mykolayiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and 3 from Rivne) participated in a workshop organised by UNDP/ Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme to get familiarised with the approach of participatory governance and community-based local sustainable development, as well as to discuss opportunities of its internalisation into the university curriculum. The workshop was hosted by Ivano-Frankivsk Resource Centre of Sustainable Development and held in participation of Municipal Project Team members of 3 partner municipalities of UNDP/MGSDP.
The workshop started with the official presentation of the Programme, during which Mr. V.Kimakovych, Deputy Mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Mr. J.Sah, UNDP/MGSDP International Project Manager, welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of universities’ involvement for strengthening the national and local knowledge base to support municipal governance for sustainable development. Then, UNDP/MGSDP was presented to the participants through basic information on its genesis, modus operandi and major achievements at national and local levels. After the official presentation, the representatives of academia were exposed to the project sites of the local Neighbourhood Organisations and School Network where they could interact with the local communities and see the principles and approaches of the Programme on the development agenda applied in practice.
With that experience in mind, academia took part in a roundtable discussion in which they highly appreciated the Programme experience in empowering citizens to participate in the decision-making and project implementation for sustainable local development, and suggested various ways how these approaches could be internalised in the university curriculum. Committing themselves for further cooperation to this end, they created a Forum of Partner Universities to coordinate these activities at national level.
“We are glad to see the place of universities in fostering the community-based sustainable development in our country. So far, the Programme has been successful in establishing the practical model of cooperation with local communities and local governments. And it is our role to assist in strengthening the Programme abilities to participate in the national policy dialogue for the promotion of sustainable development, decentralisation and democratisation, and to prepare the current and future generation on this agenda”, said V.Sereda, representative of the Academy of Municipal Management.
The workshop started with the official presentation of the Programme, during which Mr. V.Kimakovych, Deputy Mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, and Mr. J.Sah, UNDP/MGSDP International Project Manager, welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of universities’ involvement for strengthening the national and local knowledge base to support municipal governance for sustainable development. Then, UNDP/MGSDP was presented to the participants through basic information on its genesis, modus operandi and major achievements at national and local levels. After the official presentation, the representatives of academia were exposed to the project sites of the local Neighbourhood Organisations and School Network where they could interact with the local communities and see the principles and approaches of the Programme on the development agenda applied in practice.
With that experience in mind, academia took part in a roundtable discussion in which they highly appreciated the Programme experience in empowering citizens to participate in the decision-making and project implementation for sustainable local development, and suggested various ways how these approaches could be internalised in the university curriculum. Committing themselves for further cooperation to this end, they created a Forum of Partner Universities to coordinate these activities at national level.
“We are glad to see the place of universities in fostering the community-based sustainable development in our country. So far, the Programme has been successful in establishing the practical model of cooperation with local communities and local governments. And it is our role to assist in strengthening the Programme abilities to participate in the national policy dialogue for the promotion of sustainable development, decentralisation and democratisation, and to prepare the current and future generation on this agenda”, said V.Sereda, representative of the Academy of Municipal Management.
