Source: NGO “Club of Mayors”
On May 19-20, 2016 a training session on local economic development, organized by the All-Ukrainian NGO “Club of Mayors” in cooperation with PLEDDG Project and with support from the Association of Ukrainian Cities, was held in a business center “Crystal”. City mayors and their deputies from 30 cities in 17 regions of Ukraine took part in this event.
The training opening ceremony started with welcome speeches of Volodymyr Udovychenko, President of “Club of Mayors”, Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, and Valerii Baranov, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities. Organizers set up participants for an effective and constructive learning process and charged them with positive emotions.
The first day of the training session started with the basics: participants learned about the concept of local economic development (LED), the community readiness for LED, and institutional and management support for LED. After the introduction, there was an evaluation of Ukrainian realities and criteria for and principles of good democratic governance, analysis of the participatory democracy concept and forms of interaction between local governments and the public.
The third part of the training included a review of LED strategic tools (methodology and current practice of strategic planning, marketing and branding of the territory). The participants with great interest listened to Mrs. Kadie Ward, Canadian expert and PLEDDG Senior Governance Advisor. During this part, the issue of creating a favorable business climate, stimulating and support tools for small and medium businesses, as well as new tools for retaining and expanding of enterprises were also discussed.
The fourth part of the training, which started on the second training day, was devoted to one of the most pressing and important issues for the territories – investments attraction. The participants were proposed a number of practical tasks. They worked on their solution in teams, learning how to look for investors and learning about effective methods of advertising and promotion of investment opportunities, effective cooperation between local authorities and investors. This part was also dedicated to workforce development and implementation of innovations in this field.
The fifth part dealt with methods of LED financing, LED monitoring and evaluation.
The participants received plenty of useful information and practical skills and were presented with participation certificates. They expressed willingness for further participation in workshops organized by “Club of Mayors” as well as those held in cooperation with PLEDDG Project.
