On 16 May, an official signing ceremony was held between the Swiss-Ukrainian Project "Ukraine's Cohesion and Regional Development", UCORD, the Regional Development Agency (RDA) of Vinnytsia Oblast, Vinnytsia Regional Council and Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration to establish close cooperation and consolidate efforts to restore and develop Vinnytsia Oblast based on the principles of cohesion.

"The cohesion of the Ukrainian people stopped the enemy, and this would have been hard to achieve without the unity of our international partners who profess democratic values. Our joint efforts and cohesion ensure that the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainians in need have our support and assistance. Our meeting is of great importance for the further development of Vinnytsia Oblast, as we require the experience and opinion of international experts to enable the development of municipalities as well as the oblast in response to the requests of local residents since the oblast's population has now increased by 10-15% with compatriots from the occupied and de-occupied, but still not habitable, territories," said Vyacheslav Sokolovyi, Chair of Vinnytsia Regional Council.

The Memorandum envisages supporting the Vinnytsia Oblast RDA in its institutional strengthening and transformation of its governance structures over the next 4 months. The UCORD project in this regard will review the RDA's vision, purpose and role in regional development, governance mechanisms, key functions, priorities, organisational arrangements, HR and financial requirements. This will assist in identifying all the resources necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the Vinnytsia Oblast RDA.

Further, the Memorandum envisages strengthening the institutional capacity of the Vinnytsia Oblast RDA to enhance the role of the RDA in the municipal and oblast recovery, as well as local and regional development project planning. The RDA will act as a sort of platform for social cohesion and dialogue between citizens, businesses and authorities, in particular, on the policy development in the areas of water supply, sanitation and waste management, as well as culture and creative industries.

" The launch of a new large-scale project is very important for us, because at the oblast level we always support initiatives that implement advanced European solutions in various aspects. We certainly have infrastructure challenges, but the cultural and social components are also essential for us. 80% of the 68,000 IDPs permanently residing with us live in private households, particularly in rural areas. Therefore, the issues of social integration and involvement of IDPs, as well as water supply, are essential, so systemic solutions require support," said Andriy Kavunets, Deputy Head of the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalisation (CDTO).

The Swiss-Ukrainian project "Ukraine's Cohesion and Regional Development", UCORD, launched in December 2022, is implemented by NIRAS Sweden AB with the support of Switzerland. The first phase of the project runs until 2026.

The goal of the UCORD project is to promote coordinated recovery and coherent regional development actions by citizens, businesses and authorities, which in turn improves the life quality of people, strengthens the resilience of society, peace and social cohesion in Ukraine. The project is implemented through 3 components: Regional Development, Potential and Environmental Services Development, and Social Cohesion through Culture and Citizen Engagement.

In its approach, the UCORD project focuses on the qualitative changes at the level of oblasts, to be achieved through strengthening the institutional capacity of the regional development agencies, following the example of the successful operation of the relevant European RDAs.

After a long and careful selection process among Ukrainian RDAs, the Vinnytsia Oblast Regional Development Agency became one of the four winners, along with the RDAs of Sumy, Ternopil and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts.

"The process of selecting partner oblasts lasted rather long and was demanding. We thank the RDA and its founders, the Regional Council and the Military Administration, because the agency would not have won the opportunity to start cooperation with our project without your support. Now we look forward to successful work over the next 4 months and further cooperation for years to come," said Maryna Bryl, acting Head of the UCORD project.

"The project is timely for Ukraine and for our oblast, it prepares us to attract restoration resources in cooperation between the authorities, the public, and business on the transparency and openness principles. From now on, our cooperation is getting more active. We are open and look forward to a reliable hand of friendship," noted Natalia Gyzhko, Director of the Vinnytsia Regional Development Agency.

The Vinnytsia Oblast RDA was established in 2016 and has experience in implementing a number of projects jointly with municipalities and NGOs. The RDA participates in the development and implementation of recovery policies and processes, cooperates with citizens to provide quality public services, supports the oblast's human capital, and promotes micro, small and medium businesses. The Agency will assist the regional authorities and municipalities in the recovery process by collecting and providing up-to-date information for effective management decisions, providing expert support in the development of strategic documents and programmes with the involvement of municipal residents, attracting resources for the implementation of relevant projects, as well as promoting the development of the Vinnytsia Oblast business environment.