The topic of spatial planning and management of natural and land resources has always been among the most relevant for municipalities. Due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, many spheres of municipality life have suffered significant losses. The process of restoring and rebuilding territories requires huge financial investments, as well as relevant knowledge and skills from municipality representatives in this area.

U-LEAD with Europe experts prepared the educational programme “Steps for Specialists. Spatial Planning and Management of Natural Resources”, the main purpose of which is to increase the ability of the representatives of local self-government authorities to fulfil their duties and exercise the powers assigned to them and provided for by the legislation of Ukraine in the field of urban planning.

“Representatives of 69 municipalities from all over Ukraine joined the training programme ‘Steps for Specialists’ on the topic ‘Spatial planning and management of natural resources’. On Wednesday, 5 October, the training began in 17 municipalities of Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Ternopil regions. This programme is special for us: for the first time, we are organising it during martial law. And we understand that we all face a difficult task: not only to gain practical knowledge, but also to develop project ideas that will help you rebuild the municipality and ensure its harmonious work in this difficult time,” said the head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Kirovohrad region Oleh Yaremenko.

Spatial planning and natural resource management experts of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, Tetiana Danyliv and Roman Tyshkun, will work with the 17 winning municipalities of the specified regions.

According to Oleh Yaremenko, the training course consists of two stages. The first stage will last from October to December, and the second one – from January to March 2023.

At the first stage, teams of municipality specialists will participate in five seminars, during which the following topics will be considered: complex spatial planning in municipalities, management of spatial planning of territories under martial law, management and accounting of land resources in municipalities under martial law.

The 48 best municipalities will take part in the second stage. As a result, municipality teams, together with U-LEAD experts, should prepare programmes for comprehensive restoration of the territories of municipalities or conduct an audit of land resources.