Local economic development can be the key to food security in times of war. Management decisions, adjustment of food growing and processing, and consolidating human, financial, and technical resources - allow working effectively in times of crisis. During the event, the participants discussed state and international grant programs, as well as mechanisms and tools for supporting local economic development in municipalities during the war.

“The farming season will soon come to an end, the heating season will soon start and preparing for the winter and ensuring that communities are able to positively impact food supply chains is very critical and extremely timely. But tied to that is revitalizing the agro-industries and restoring markets to create sustainable solutions. We are very proud to see how municipalities across Ukraine work hard on trying to ensure the security and well-being of their residents even in these difficult times. USAID HOVERLA Activity will continue supporting municipalities in these efforts,” emphasized Gabriel Abraham, Chief of Party of the USAID HOVERLA Activity.

“Today, the state provides opportunities to use grant programs for processing entrepreneurship, credit programs, and others. The budget of these programs vary widely: from one million to 60 million UAH depending on the goals and objectives of the programs. We believe that in the conditions of today's crisis, the fall in GDP, and the contraction of the economy, state support is very relevant and will provide an impetus for the development of municipalities,” said Viacheslav Zubenko, Budgetary Relations Expert of the USAID HOVERLA Activity.

Tetiana Berezhna, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, presented several other opportunities for communities and entrepreneurs. All of them, according to Tetiana Berezhna, aim to ensure the creation of jobs and, as a result, stable revenues to local budgets:

“Balanced and regular payment of taxes to the budgets of all levels, in particular to local budgets, is a guarantee of economic stability during the war. The task of the Ministry of Economy in this area is to ensure all conditions for the creation of jobs in the field and the active payment of labor taxes. Our main goal is to create jobs, and the Ministry’s micro-grant program is one of the programs that actively provides this. Paying taxes should be easy, understandable, and, importantly, regular. In the matter of taxation, the main thing is to create a stable base. That work will bring income and taxes from labor in the field.”

The programs of the Ministry of Economy can be viewed in the presentation of Tetiana Berezhna (in Ukrainian).

The following experts and representatives of the local authorities took part in the event: Ron Hunter, Senior Infrastructure Manager of the USAID ERA; Mariia Nikorych, the Head of Novoselytska community of Chernivtsi region; Viktor Hodyk, the Head of Horohivska community of Volyn region; Volodymyr Remeniak, the Head of Horodotska community of Lviv region.