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On March 16, Poltava hosted an inter-governmental forum “Effective governance as a precondition for a rapid development of Poltava region”, which was organized by PLEDDG Project in cooperation with Poltava Regional Administration.

Over 100 representatives of central, regional and local authorities, non-governmental organizations, united territorial communities, Ukrainian and foreign experts attended the forum. The objective of the forum was to establish cooperation and allow for information exchange between central executive and legislative bodies of Ukraine, as well as regional and local authorities, with the aim of improving the mechanisms of planning and facilitation of the development of territorial communities, which will contribute to enhancing competitiveness and quality of life in Poltava region.

During the forum, participants exchanged ideas, discussed pressing issues of economic development and democratic governance in Poltava region. The Forum started off with welcoming words from Valeriy Holovko, Head of Poltava Regional Administration, Anatoliy Hanko, Deputy Head of Poltava City Council, Kadie Ward, PLEDDG Senior Governance Advisor, and Oksana Derkach, Secretary of Poltava City Council. The first plenary session was dedicated to innovative Canadian and Ukrainian best practices of democratic governance tools such as “Open City”, “Participatory Budget”, gender equality and development of an inclusive community.

Inna Ishchenko, Director of Department of Economic Development, Trade and Investment, talked about the experience of Poltava Regional Administration in attracting international technical assistance resources for regional development. She stated that international projects assist Poltava in obtaining tools for management and effective development, as well as in attracting additional investments into Poltava region. Serhiy Solomakha, the Mayor of Myrhorod, talked about the “Open City” system – an interactive platform created to facilitate cooperation between the local government and citizens in order to respond rapidly and effectively to pressing issues. The platform has been in action in Myrhorod since July 2014.

Participants learned about the successful experience of Canadian cities in local economic development and democratic governance. PLEDDG Project invited Mr. Alan Shefman, member of Vaughan City Council (Ontario province) and Ms. Randy Goulden, member of Yorkton City Council (Ontario province) to speak at the forum. In her presentation, Randy Goulden focused on an inclusive community and gender equality as tools of democratic governance. Alan Shefman explained the participants how important it was to ensure democratic governance, which was a necessary precondition for successful and sustainable local economic development, based on the experience of his home town. According to Mr. Shefman, the most valuable asset of the city is its people, thus local government should build partnership with their community.

The second plenary session was dedicated to the possibility to involve professionals to territorial community development. Within this session, participants discussed optimization of basic and advanced training of people who will work in territorial communities, new approaches to advanced training courses for civil servants and public officials within the implementation of decentralization reform. After the plenary session, participants continued to work in separate sessions that tackled different topics. The first group discussed democratic governance as a key to successful development of territorial community. The second group discussed the need for human resources to develop territorial communities and new approaches to basic and advanced staff training.

ІРТ Poltava piec
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