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On April 25, 2017, the third Steering Committee meeting of PLEDDG Project took place in Kyiv. One of the items on the agenda was the presentation of a report on PLEDDG achievements in 2016-2017 and a working plan for the 3rd year of PLEDDG activity in 2017-2018.

PLEDDG Project Steering Committee is responsible for supervising the Project implementation and approving its key documentation. The Steering Committee includes representatives of the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities of Ukraine, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Association of Ukrainian Cities, mayors of 16 PLEDDG partner cities, heads of regional state administrations in PLEDDG pilot regions (Zaporizhia, Vinnytsia, Poltava and Ivano-Frankivsk regions).

Valeriy Baranov, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, and Garth Frizzel, Councillor, City of Prince George and Board Member, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, co-chaired the meeting.

An opening speech was delivered by Roman Washchuk, Extraodinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine. In his address, Mr. Waschuk mentioned that he was closely following PLEDDG activity and had paid visits to the majority of PLEDDG partner cities in order to see for himself what had already been done within PLEDDG Project in the relevant cities. Karim Morkos, Head of the International Development, the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Iryna Hubarets, Project Coordinator at the International Development, the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Olena Kulko, representative from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, and Liudmyla Damentsova, Deputy Director of the Department of Local Governance and Territorial Organization of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities of Ukraine, acknowledged PLEDDG’s achievements in its partner cities.

Maryana Nikoula, PLEDDG Canada Program Manager, greeted PLEDDG Steering Committee members and other participants on behalf of FCM. She described FCM’s mandate, namely – representation and protection of the interests of Canadian municipalities at the federal level of government, implementation of development programs in Canada and worldwide, and allocation of funding for implementation of various local initiatives. She went on to talk about FCM’s role in fostering Ukrainian cities’ economic development and democratic governance via PLEDDG Project. She added that 2017 was a special year for Canada, as the country celebrated its 150th anniversary of Confederation. FCM would also celebrate the 30th anniversary of its international cooperation programming, with a special conference set to take place to mark those two important dates, said Ms. Nikoula.

Oleksandr Kucherenko, PLEDDG Project Director, together with PLEDDG senior experts Ihor Lepyoshkin and Valeriy Kokot, presented PLEDDG’s current achievements, while PLEDDG Senior Governance Advisor Kadie Ward shared a working plan of planned activities for the three components of PLEDDG activity for the period of 2017-2018.

Following presentations by PLEDDG experts, representatives from PLEDDG partner cities were invited to share their experience of cooperation with PLEDDG and provide feedback on the proposed action plan and the budget.

At the end of the Steering Committee meeting, an action plan for 2017-2018 was approved. Over the course of the third year of Project implementation it is planned to conduct a training course on local economic development for representatives of local authorities, implement a road map for business environment improvement in 16 partner cities, publish a practical guide regarding business development services, social entrepreneurship, fundraising for small and medium businesses and partnership for local labor force development. In 2017-2018 PLEDDG Project is set to develop an online training course on SME competitive capacity building. Also, PLEDDG’s Democratic Governance and Development Initiatives Support Fund will become an important element of PLEDDG cooperation with its partner cities. It will go along with development and implementation of communications strategies, enhancement of cooperation with media, study tours to Canada and Poland.


Download PLEDDG Project core achievements in 2016-1017:

1000-eng

pdf

Component 1000
Implementing an “Open Government” Model and Ensuring Transparent and Effective Decision Making by Local Government

2000-eng
pdf

Component 2000
Support of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Development

3000-eng

pdf

Component 3000
Improve Collaboration between Local, Regional and National Authorities to Facilitate Decentralization and Intergovernmental Dialogue