Source: Oblast Council Newspaper “Vinnytsia Region”
Non-governmental foundations and organizations are the driving force behind numerous positive changes in our country. One of them is Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance Project (PLEDDG Project), a well-known project financed by Global Affairs Canada (GAC). PLEDDG Project is very popular in Vinnytsia Oblast, particularly in Khmilnyk. This year in Khmilnyk, PLEDDG Project contributed to the creation of a Ukrainian Organic Cluster – an association of producers of organic food.
Recently PLEDDG Project has organized two round-table meetings in Khmilnyk, which were focused on relations between the government and non-governmental organizations & media. The first meeting was held on the premises of Khmilnyk City Council. It was attended by Kadie Ward, PLEDDG Project Senior Governance Advisor, Andriy Suslenko, expert and journalist for Channel 5, Oksana Bondar, PLEDDG Project Coordinator in Vinnytsia Oblast, Serhiy Redchyk, Mayor of Khmilnyk, and a number of city officials. The participants discussed the mechanism for effective communication between the government, the community and journalists. Kadie Ward explained how city councils could use the media and other communication channels to inform the community about its decisions and plans, distribute relevant information and even attract investments. Afterwards, participant took turns to express their opinions on the subject.
NGO representatives and journalists were also involved in various discussions. Kadie Ward briefly told participants about PLEDDG’s mission, saying that “It is very important for our Project to secure cooperation with local non-governmental organizations and communities. We address many issues such as engagement of the youth and women in entrepreneurship and a search for opportunities to work with internally displaced persons.”
Every participant had an opportunity to describe their own vision of communication between the government, NGOs and mass media. Svitlana Vasyliuk, director of the Information Activity and Public Relations Department of the Vinnytsia Oblast State Administration, representatives of an NGO “Pravo” Taras Nosalskyi and Olena Cherniy, editor for a weekly newspaper “13th District” Serhiy Panaskevych, activist and member of the social movement “Public Control” Volodymyr Melnychuk and many others actively participated in the discussions. All participants agreed that it would be useful to hold a number of events (seminars or trainings) in order to encourage dialogue between the government and the people.
Kadie Ward and Andriy Suslenko informed participants that the issues discussed at the round-table meetings would be included in an Internal Communication Strategy, which is aimed at enhancing government accountability, improving professional skills of local journalists and increasing participation of the local community.
Written by Inna Medvedieva