Source: Association of Ukrainian Cities
Kyiv is hosting ХІV Ukrainian Municipal Forum. Today, the second day of the Forum – the Day of Open Governance and Economic Development of Ukrainian Cities, is taking place. It is held in the framework of the project “Partnership for Local Economic Development (PLEDDG)”, which has been implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) in partnership with the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) since 2015.
The Forum has welcomed about 400 participants: heads of AUC-member communities and local authorities’ representatives, people’s deputies, representatives of the parliament, government, international technical aid projects, experts, and the AUC’s partners from Norway, Canada, and Lithuania.
Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv Mayor and the Head of AUC, officially opened the meeting. In his welcome speech, he said that one of the challenges local governments faced was developing efficient instruments for the use of budgetary funds (read more).
Volodymyr Groysman, Prime Minister of Ukraine, pointed out that Ukraine had all the opportunities to build a strong economy with extended infrastructure in the coming 3-5 years. This could be done through a direct dialogue between central and local authorities (read more).
Another keynote speaker Roman Waschuk, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, said, “Above all things, we realize you have demand not for training only, but for practice as well. It is also important not only to adopt international experience, in particular, the Canadian one, but to have in mind that Ukraine has its own positive experience, which is worth sharing. For instance, the successfully implemented Ivano-Frankivsk program “Teple Misto” which is already being put into place in other Ukrainian municipalities. Thus, do not forget to turn your attention to the success of your cities, implement best practices and share therewith, but in the areas where you lack experience do not hesitate to address international partners and use their experience. Never look back! Good luck!”
The Day of Open Governance and Economic Development of Ukrainian Cities continues with the plenary session where the participants discuss economic development of territorial communities in Ukraine.
Kadie Ward, PLEDDG Senior Governance Advisor, described the main directions of PLEDDG activity in partner cities, stressing the importance of cooperation between the Association of Ukrainian Cities and Federation of Canadian Municipalities within the framework of which the effective measures aimed at promoting democracy in local governance had been developed (presentation).
Valeriy Baranov, Deputy Executive Manager of AUC, presented a Concept of creation of the system for local governance personnel training and local councils deputies, developed as part of PLEDDG Project.
Bev Eslinger, Mayor of Edmonton, Canada, spoke to the role of women in local government and Edmonton’s experience in implementing gender initiatives (presentation).
Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, spoke about “Enforcement of Implementation of Gender Equality Principle in Local Policy and Practice” (presentation).
Oleh Berezyuk, Member of Ukrainian Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Faction Samopomich, addressed the participants: “Local authorities are the only branch of power in Ukraine that enjoy public trust. That is why central authorities tend to be controlling them”. He said that there were attempts to push forward a new draft law on financial control of local government bodies and called on the mayors to unite behind the Association, which defends the local governance interests. “There have already been attempts to enforce control and, thanks to the Association of Ukrainian Cities, it was possible to stop it”, – Berezyuk said.
(It bears reminding that last year the draft law on public control over the decisions of local government bodies was brought in, which, if it had been adopted, would have allowed for local state administrations interfering with the local governance activity. Due to the efforts made by the Association, it was possible to suspend the process. It was scraped by the author).
Iryna Sysoienko, Member of Ukrainian Parliament, told the mayors about the aspects of medical reform, specifically, about the changes at the primary level of public health system.
Artem Bidenko, State Secretary of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine, told the Forum’s participants about Ukraine NOW “umbrella brand”, aimed at joining efforts for promoting cities, towns, and villages across both Ukraine and the world. Pavlo Vrzhesch, “Banda” Creative Director, told them about the experience of development and use of the single brand of Ukraine (presentation and video).
Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, and Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, announced the winning projects of the call for short-term initiatives aimed at facilitating women involvement in local economic development:
- “Increasing Women Representation in Local Decision-making”, “For Gender Equality” social movement, Dnipro
- “Zhytomyr as a City of Equal Opportunities”, the Zhytomyr Regional Youth Organization “Parytet” NGO, Zhytomyr (presentation)
- “SheEmpovers – Extending Opportunities for Women in Ivano-Frankivsk Economic Life”, “NGO Center of Municipal and Regional Development – Resource Center”, Ivano-Frankivsk (presentation)
- “Increasing Women Involvement in Local Economic Development – a Key to Successful City Development!”, NGO “Center for Women Prospects”, Lviv (presentation)
- “Gender Stereotypes and IT: Building Future together with Businesswomen”, NGO “IT House”, Ternopil (presentation)
- “Gender Profile of Kharkiv”, NGO “LINK”, Kharkiv (presentation)
“Women Entrepreneurship Development in a Town: Ideas and Practices”, Regional Fund of Support for Entrepreneurship across Poltava region, Khorol, Poltava region
The work of the Forum continued in the following sections.
Section No 1 – Democratic Governance. Moderator – Ihor Lepyoshkin, PLEDDG Senior Expert, Head of Experts Group.
The speakers of the session were:
- Oleksii Soboliev, Acting Director of PE ProZorro. Sales (presentation)
- Taras Kuchma, Drohobych Mayor (presentation)
- Pavlo Timofieiev, Deputy of Melitopol City Council, Head of Internal Policy Department (presentation)
- Kostiantyn Ploskyi, PAUCI Deputy Director (presentation)
- Viktor Liakh, President of ICO “East Europe Foundation” (presentation)
- Serhiy Solomakha, Mayor
- Tetiana Tyschenko, Head of Financial Department of Khmilnytskyi City Council (presentation)
Yaroslava Boiko, Co-coordinator of the initiative Kyiv Smart City (presentation)
Section No 2 – Small and Medium Business Development. Moderator – Valeriy Kokot, PLEDDG Senior Expert in Business Development
The speakers of the session were:
- Valeriy Edeliev, Zaporizhia Deputy Mayor on Activity of Executive Bodies of the Council
- Vitaliy Pogosyan, Director of Vinnytsia Council’s Department of Economics and Investments
- Roman Zinchenko, Co-founder of NGO “Greencubator”
- Valentyna Smal, Director of the SV-Platform Analytical Center (presentation)
Valentyna Smal, Director of the project “Consulting Enterprises on Energy Efficiency”, GIZ GmbN (presentation)
AUC Section on Assurance of Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men. Moderator – Olena Tykhomyrova, Gender Equality Advisor to PLEDDG Project.
The speakers of the session were:
- Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project
- Valeriy Baranov, AUC Deputy Executive Manager
- Liudmyla Dromashko, Chairman of AUC Section, Member of AUC Board of Directors, Pervomaysk Mayor
- Bev Eslinger, Edmonton Mayor, Canada (presentation)
- Kateryna Levchenko, Government Commissioner for Gender Policy
In addition, winners of the call for short-term initiatives facilitating women involvement in local economic development presented their projects (see above).
At the general session, the Forum’s participants discussed strategic environment assessment of cities. The discussion was moderated by Oleksandr Ignatenko, PLEDDG Senior Expert in Inter-governmental Cooperation and Economic Development.
The Deputy Director of Department of Strategy and European Integration, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Natalia Trofimenko, gave a presentation on the Law of Ukraine “On Strategic Environment Assessment” (presentation).
UNECE Consultant Maia Gachechiladze-Bozhesku shared the experience of carrying out SEA in Central and Eastern Europe (presentation).
Hennadii Marushevskyi, PLEDDG Advisor on Environmental Sustainability, spoke about SEA process in PLEDDG partner cities (presentation).
Viacheslav Potapenko, Director of Green Economy Institute, Project Manager – reform of the system of ecological control, monitoring, and responsibility of the Reform Support Office at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine, made a presentation about methodological guidelines on carrying out strategic environment assessment of the documents on public planning in Ukraine.
During the closing session, the moderators of the sections reported on the results of discussions and talks. Oleksandr Kucherenko, Director of PLEDDG Project, and Oleksandr Slobozhan, AUC Executive Director, presented results of expert discussions during the second day of the Forum.
Oleksandr Kucherenko thanked Forum’s participants for their active involvement in discussions and made a point of how it was important to share experiences and discuss important issues related to local economic development. He also acknowledged longstanding cooperation of AUC with Canadian partners.
Oleksandr Slobozhan expressed his gratitude to PLEDDG Project and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for their contribution and assistance to Ukrainian cities in implementation of of economic development and gender equality initiatives. The AUC Executive Director suggested the participants approve the draft of the Forum outcome document – an address to top officials – in broad terms and put the proposals thereto forward within three days. The executive directorate would finalize the document and submit it to state central authorities. He also said another large gathering of city mayors was to be held during the Dialogue Day, which the Association of Ukrainian Cities planned to hold on September 24-25 in Ternopil.
The ХІV Ukrainian Municipal Forum officially closed.