The project of cooperation between the Nedoboyivska, Khotynska, Rukshynska and Klyshkovetska hromadas of the Chernivtsi Oblast “Partnership of territorial hromadas of the Apple Agglomeration as an effective local development tool” became one of the three winners of the all-Ukrainian competition on cooperation between urban and rural hromadas.

The Partnership of Urban and Rural Hromadas as a Local Economic Development Tool was organised by the Civil Society Institute with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

In total, 26 ideas from all over Ukraine came to the competition, and the project initiated by the Nedoboyivskaya AH was in the top three. “For several years, I worked for an interagency commission on the consideration of regional development projects, which could be financed from the state budget. I didn't see anything like this. No development project came in from hromadas: either repairs of windows or renovations of roofs. And today I have put so many high points that I did not know for whom to vote. I saw a bunch of cool projects, including safety projects, the Drevlyany land, the Melitopol cherry, the Galician berries... They all deserve attention and funding,” says Anatoliy Tkachuk, director on development of the Civil Society Institute.

The winning projects will be assisted in fundraising and submitting project ideas for grants from European funds. In addition, at the event, Andrej Horvat, GIZ Deputy Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe, added optimism to hromadas’ representatives by stating that the Programme plans to support the refined ideas in the future. “We expect that there will be 26 urban-rural partnerships and 26 cooperation projects. And if these partnerships reach agreement on all key positions and are set for success, then we will support them,” said Andrej Horvat.

Posted by Andriy Kuchuran, Communications Adviser at the Chernivtsi Office of the U-LEAD Program with Europe

Photo: Civil Society Institute

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