Source – Berdiansk City Council

70538221_2569950479731375_6794923272006795264_oA regular session of the Advisory Committee on Effective Governance and Development created for implementation of PLEDDG Project in Berdyansk was dedicated to assessment of the sustainability aspects of the PLEDDG-supported initiatives and projects carried out in Berdiansk as well as to the question of how the Project could help implement such initiatives. The session was chaired by Ihor Lepyoshkin, Senior Expert, Head of Experts Group of PLEDDG Project, with participation of PLEDDG Consultant Volodymyr Proskurnin and PLEDDG Regional Coordinator in Zaporizhia oblast Svitlana Kruhliak. It began with the speech of Mayor Yulia Doinova, who reminded all the attendees that 11 initiatives and projects were being implemented in the city, calling everyone for an effective activity.

“It is important that the projects and initiatives being implemented now do not terminate after the Project close-out but have their further successful continuation. We are going to extend joint initiatives, we have planned the funding for new projects; now the procedural issues are being coordinated, so everyone who has applied with their proposals should wait a little bit more for the results”, – Ihor Lepyoshkin said when addressing the attending members to the Advisory Committee. After the last session held in February, based on the committee members’ proposals, an Action Plan aimed at ensuring sustainability of PLEDDG Project implementation results was drawn up. Therefore, today, in the course of the discussion, each of eleven projects was considered in terms of its implementation, with the possible assistance to be provided by Project’s consultants.

To recap, the international technical aid project “Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance” being implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is aimed at enhancement of municipal sector in Ukraine through capacity improvement of 16 cities from four regions in the area of democratization of local governance and development. The PLEDDG Project presupposes implementation of the instruments of democratic open governance, creating a favourable environment for entrepreneurship development and local economic development, support of power decentralization process and integrated planning of development at local, regional, and national levels, contributing to gender equality through enhancement of women’s role in political and economic processes, as well as promotion of urban environment ecologization.

The key partners of PLEDDG Project are the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) and such cities as: Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, Khmilnyk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Dolyna, Kolomyia, Poltava, Myrhorod, Kremechuk, Horishni Plavni, Zaporizhia, Enerhodar, Melitopol, Berdyansk, and Yaremche.

The Plan for implementation of PLEDDG Project sets out the development of the Strategy for ensuring of sustainability of implementation results. The Strategy includes planning of measures for ensuring sustainability of the Project’s priority results at its closing stage of implementation. The quality of partnership relations, responsibility at local level, and capacity development will be further incorporated into implementation of the Project and will influence on the sustainability of its results. The PLEDDG Projects applies a participatory approach to sustainability management in cooperation with partners, which implies development of specific Action Plans for ensuring PLEDDG Project implementation results sustainability together with each partner.

In the context of PLEDDG Project, “sustainability” shall mean continuation of ensuring priority results of the Project implementation after completion of assistance provision. The best effect can be achieved only when the partners undertake their liability for ensuring the Project’s priority results, and the products and processes are developed over the long-term, with an intentional strategic capacity development for the sustainability purposes being an integral part of Project implementation aimed at supporting such vital issues.

The Action Plan aimed at ensuring sustainability of PLEDDG Project implementation results in Berdiansk was developed in close cooperation with members to the Advisory Committee on Effective Governance and Development created for implementation of PLEDDG Project in Berdyansk, by deputies and representatives of the city council structural units, businesses, and the city community.