Canada-Ukraine Regional
Governance and Development (RGD) Activities
The Fourth Annual Forum: “Regional Competitiveness – Building
Strategies in the Age Of Globalization: Ukrainian and International Experience”
was held on November 12, 2008, organized by the Canada-Ukraine Partnership
Project for Regional Governance and Development RGD. Over 100 participants of
the Forum had the opportunity to discuss Ukrainian and international best
practices in regional policy implementation. Forum participants included
representatives of central and local governments; regional development
agencies, civil society organizations, international organizations,
international technical assistance programs and projects, academia from Kyiv
and 20 oblasts of
Sergiy Romaniuk, First Deputy Minister of Economy
of Ukraine, opened the Forum and chaired the plenary session. Introductory
remarks were provided by Anatoliy Matviyenko, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine,
and Sherry Greaves, First Secretary (Development), Embassy of Canada in
Speakers covered North American and European
experiences in raising economic competitiveness of cities and regions.
Discussions focused on analysis of current problems of Ukrainian cities and
regions which they are facing while competing with the rest of the world; as
well as specific recommendations on strategies and policy tools. The
participants also had the opportunity to participate in two consecutive workshops
to explore in more detail the key issues pertaining to the main theme of the
Forum: regional innovative development; venture funds; public-private
partnership; the process of euro-integration in the context of globalization;
eastward investment trends; economic clustering in Ukraine and abroad; variety
of tools for promoting regional competitiveness; and strategies for attracting
investments for regional infrastructure development etc.
All presentations were placed on the project
website at:
www.rgd.org.ua/en/project_activities/round_tables/4th_annual_forum/
The Second Module of the Project Management
Training (PMT) Program was held in Zakarpattya, Nov. 18 – 19, and in
Zaporizhzhia, Nov. 26 – 27, with 33 and 27 participants, respectively, over
half of which were women. The PMT Program has two main objectives: first, to
train a number of middle level managers from the regional and local level
governments in project management, and secondly, to begin implementation of
priority projects by April 2009. Training was delivered in a series of two-day
training workshops and included theoretical and practical components. Each
participant led a project team, consisting of government, business and
community representatives, implementing a small or medium sized project from
one of the regional strategic priorities.
Ukrainian experts trained participants in
preparing project logical frameworks and worked with project leaders and teams
to ensure progress with small project development. Ann Szyptur and Carole
Houlihan, Canadian experts on Civil Society and Gender, led the practical
sessions and introduced the training participants to the process of social and
gender analysis and stakeholder analysis, and provided some tips on how to
engage a wider group of stakeholders in project implementation. At the end of
the workshops, participants received homework assignments to develop the
concept of a project, action plan and a project outline, as well as to start
working on project budgeting, and social and gender impact.
On November
20, 21 and 24, Ann Szyptur and Carole Houlihan, Yaroslav Boyko and Svitlana
Slava, RGD Regional Planning Experts, and Nataliya Lyhkolot, Project Assistant
in Zakarpattya oblast, visited 10 small-scale projects located in different rayons
(regions) of Zakarpattya oblast. They had a series of meetings with project
teams and discussed work that has been accomplished to date. Project sites
visited included Vinohradiv, Rakhiv, and Tyachiv rayony, Mukachevo,
Berehove, Khust, and Uzhgorod. Over 32 people participated in these meetings.
On November 13 and 14, Bohdan Wynnycky, Senior
Manager, Municipal Performance Partnerships Unit, Ontario Ministry of Municipal
Affairs and Housing, RGD Project International Expert, visited Zaporizhzhya
oblast. The goal of his visit was to discuss the activities on monitoring and
evaluation of regional and local strategies in the oblast carried out to date
and to assess the needs for further training and capacity development
activities in this area. Meetings with project experts and main stakeholders
were held and included discussions on Project activity in the region and
existing institutional structures for implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of the Regional Strategy.
On
Over the month of November 2008, a number of
activities were carried out to follow-up on the Capital Investment Project
Training Program delivered earlier in the year by the RGD Project. The training
program provided representatives of municipalities and oblast government with knowledge
and skills to develop infrastructure investment project proposals according to
the international standards. As a result of the success of this training
program, Zaporizhzhya oblast authorities asked RGD Project Experts to hold
additional training sessions for representatives of small businesses. One such
workshop was held on November 28 at which participants included representatives
of oblast and municipal governments, members of the project teams and small
business representatives. In Zakarpattya, a meeting with representatives of
Uzhgorod City Council was held to discuss implementation of infrastructure
investment projects that were developed in summer 2008. Specifically, advice on
preparing letters of invitation to international financial and lending
institutions was discussed to consider project financing of the “Reconstruction
of Sewage System in the City of
More detailed information about Project events
and activities can be found at www.rgd.org.ua.