One of the domes of the former radar station “Pamir”, located on Mount Tomnatyk in Bukovyna, hosted a conference “Innovative tools for rural areas’ development”.

The event was held at the initiative of the Chernivtsi Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and MinRegion.

A two-day ethno-festival “Love Bukovyna, because it's worth it” took place at a height of 1565.3 metres. It was not easy to get to the venue, since heavy rains on the eve of the event washed out the mountain roads. Nevertheless, the scenery that opens from “Pamir” station really fascinates and impresses.

As part of the festival, the delegation of the Chernivtsi, Donetsk, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia Oblasts shared their positive experience of rural areas’ development.

Volodymyr Furdyha, head of the tourism department of the Chernivtsi Oblast State Administration, spoke about the most interesting places for tourism development in the oblast.

The representatives of the Selyatynska, Ust-Putylska and Vyzhnytska AHs shared their success stories of tourism development in the countryside.

“Due to participation in various projects, we were able to implement energy-saving measures in schools, kindergartens, healthcare institutions, modernise the village library and cultural centre,” said Antonina Skydan, project management specialist of the Ust-Putylska hromada.

Kateryna Stazhyr, head of the Information and Tourist Centre “Gateway to the Carpathians”, introduced a unique experience of functioning of this centre, located in the Vyzhnytska AH.

The representatives of the Rivne, Donetsk, Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia Oblasts spoke about the rational development of rural areas, and shared examples of successful projects.

They explained how small farmers get an opportunity to develop their business with the grant funds of the oblast budget, as well as due to the project “Ukrayinskyi Donetskyi Kurkul”.

Representatives of the delegation of the Vinnytsia Oblast talked about the best practices of the development of rural areas in the Vinnytsia Oblast.

“We have a very good project, initiated last year. It will be developed on the basis of two amalgamated hromadas – the Barska and Severynivska AHs,” said the legal adviser of the Vinnytsia LGDC. “This project is called “Apple Way” and is financed within the framework of the European programme “Mayors for Economic Growth”.

The participants also discussed the experience of the Severynivska hromada of the Vinnytsia Oblast, which completely abandoned the consumption of natural gas.

Due to the energy willow growth, this hromada is already energetically independent. The entire social infrastructure is fully heated here. And the private sector is also rapidly switching to such an energy efficient mechanism.

After the conference, representatives of delegations from 5 oblasts visited the tourist ethno festival on Mount Tomnatyk.

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