Success of PLEDDG- Supported Initiatives Discussed in Zaporizhia

Sourse: Official website of Zaporizhia city council

On October 8, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a meeting of Advisory Committee on efficiency of governance and development for PLEDDG implementation in Zaporizhia. Its key objective was to discuss the outcomes of cooperation and the results of the implemented initiatives. Valerii Edeliev, Zaporizhia Deputy Mayor, managers of municipal companies and city council departments, PLEDDG representatives, business, and community joined the meeting.

The fruitful cooperation between municipal authorities and PLEDDG was launched in December 2015, with the Advisory Committee created simultaneously.

Since then, a great number of the vital for the city initiatives has been implemented. Among them are Zaporizhia Development Strategy up to 2028, support for small and medium sized enterprises, strategic planning, implementation of the instruments of open democratic governance on the “Open City” model, etc.

– Together with PLEDDG we managed to implement more than 13 ongoing programs. The most important thing which our foreign partners – Canadian municipalities – have taught us is building the dialogue with community representatives. Actually, it is a very complicated process because it is very difficult to single out the most essential things among the diversity of ideas, – Deputy Mayor Valerii Edeliev said.

Participants of the session say PLEDDG has proved its efficiency. The objectives set out at the start of the cooperation are being performed. Nevertheless, PLEDDG moves beyond. The future plans include ensuring sustainability of implementation of the already existing projects.

– We have also carried out a study of the cities’ democracy index. The team of experts work in Zaporizhia too. They have analyzed more than 20 various aspects pointing to the openness and transparency in the decision-taking process. These results are very interesting. I have a report already which I will submit to the city council next week. It contains specific recommendations on the measures to be taken to increase openness and accountability to the community, – Ihor Lepyoshkin, PLEDDG Senior Expert, Head of Experts Group, added.