Novohrad-Volynskiy, 23 August: Over three years after joining partnership with UN Development Porgramme, the municipality’s 19 communities were supported in carrying out their local sustainable development projects amounting to 2.8 mn. Hryvnias, while about 30,000 people have benefited from these community-based initiatives, according to UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecka.
She has led a UNDP delegation on a visit to the opening ceremony of the International Festival of Literature and Arts “Lesyni Dzherela”. The town hosts this summer Festival every year.
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. In addition, it supports local development actors in establishing the mechanisms of democratic governance based on broad participation of the citizens in the decision-making process related to their welfare and habitation, developing effective mechanisms of accountability and strengthening the capacity of local decision-makers to address the needs of the citizens.
In 22 municipalities across
Moreover, today, the sustainable social and economic development is being actively promoted in four Chernobyl-affected regions, Autonomous Republic of Crimea and all regions of
The community-based local development approach is applied in all local activities held with UNDP support at the local level. It proved to be effective in both urban and rural areas, and turned out to be particularly successful in community mobilization for improvement of local housing and communal infrastructure, solving the problems of education sector, reducing unemployment, and enhancing quality of the social services delivery.
Novohrad-Volynskiy municipality has been the partner of UNDP/MGSDP since June 2005. Ever since, it has supported 19 communities in carrying out their local sustainable development projects amounting to 2.8 mln. hryvnias, generating direct benefits to about 30,000 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
Speaking during the official meeting at Novohrad-Volynskiy City Council, Joanna Kazana-Wisniowiecka, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, said:
“Novohrad-Volynskiy municipality is known not only for its rich history and cultural traditions, being a motherland of a famous Ukrainian poetess Lesya Ukrayinka. The town also boasts its contemporary achievements of the local industrial enterprises. But there is something else which makes your town special: it is the cohesiveness of the local communities realizing their responsibility for their own quality of life, and capable of utilizing their collective power to help themselves.
"Since the establishment of our partnership in 2005 in the context of UNDP/MGSDP, the community-based development approach has been widely used in Novohrad-Volynskiy revealing outstanding partnership results among local authorities and international donors for the local communities. We are sincerely grateful for the outstanding partnership results, and hope for dissemination of the lessons learned in Novohrad-Volynskiy for the benefit of the local self-government bodies all over
Out of 19 community projects, 9 were implemented by the communities of citizens (energy efficiency, water supply, sewerage systems, construction of sports ground, etc); 8 related to educational institutions (roof repairs, window insulation, premises renovation).
Moreover, an NGO “Women’s Council” implemented the project on public health improvement by reconstructing the premises for Diagnostic Centre, which provides services beyond the municipalities boundaries to wider areas in Zhytomyr region. While an NGO “Fund of Social Protection of Disabled” created a Rehabilitation Centre for Young Disabled which is an exemplary case for many cities.
On behalf of UNDP in
Mykola Borovets reiterated the importance of UNDP support for strengthening the local development process in the city.
In his words,
"It is the well thought-out systematic methodology of MGSDP implementation that became a pledge of the positive achievements of local communities and the constant growth of the local government’s officials responsible for supporting the community initiatives.
As the result of this work, we elaborated the clear vision of our own approaches to managing local development, and realized that our future is in our hands. It would be a common weal for
Besides the “Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme”, the community-based development approach is also applied in the process of implementation of such UNDP-led projects as “Crimea Integration and Development Programme”, “Chornobyl Recovery and Development Programme”, and EU-financed “Community Based Approach to Local Development” project.
This approach tries to build up the skills and competencies of local communities and their local leadership in order to promote a sense of self-empowerment. While each Programme is aimed at addressing particular needs of the municipalities or specifically identified territories, all of them rely on social mobilization as a basic method of enhancing local development.
In general, 620 communities were supported within the UNDP-led local development Programmes, and 516 local community projects were implemented with UNDP’s support over 2005 – 2007.
During the visit, the members of UNDP delegation, including Sergiy Grytsenko, Communications Officer,
For more details, please contact Ms. Galyna Gulenko, Monitoring and Communication Officer of UNDP/MGSDP, by tel. +38 (044) 501 4203 or via e-mail: galyna.gulenko@undp.org.ua.
