With the purpose of enhancing of its own methodology of economic development strategic planning, PLEDDG Project conducted a three-day workshop on strategic planning for Ukrainian community development on November 24-26. Having successfully implemented MLED from 2010 – 2014, PLEDDG sought to review and improve its previous strategic planning process. The event was conducted with participation of the leading Ukrainian experts in strategic planning representatives of MLED partner cities, and Canadian consultants. The workshop officially launched the beginning of the development of the strategic planning methodology for PLEDDG partner cities.
The agenda of the workshop included plenary sessions and work in groups. During the first day of the workshop, participants got acquainted with the spheres of PLEDDG activity and discussed experience of Ukrainian and Canadian municipalities in municipal economic development strategic planning. A roundtable discussion on the “Methodology and Practice of Development and Implementation of Strategic Plans of Local Ukrainian Communities Development: Lessons Learned and Ways for Improvement” was also conducted. During this roundtable participants were shared experience in creating and implementing strategic plans for local community development. During the second day, participants discussed alternative approaches to the analysis of the condition of local communities’ economies, methodology of carrying-out analytical and sociological researches and analytical documents execution.
Oleksandr Kobzariev, director of Lviv analytical center “Institute of the City”, and Anzhela Blyzniuk, director of Nikopol Agency for regional development, who had earlier cooperated with MLED Project shared their experience in strategic documents development.
Doug Hickman and Beth Voroniuk, invited Canadian experts, also participated in the workshop. Doug Hickman, specialist on Strategic Environmental Assment, spoke about how to perform strategic ecological evaluation (SEE) during city development strategic planning. Beth Voroniuk, Gender Equality Expert, explained the importance of taking into account gender equality issues in the course of strategic plans development and implementation.