A Second Ukrainian City Development Institutions Forum 2014 took place in Kryvyi Rih on October 2-3

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This event is a logical sequel of the First Ukrainian City Development Institutions Forum, which was attended by 80 members from 20 Ukrainian cities last year and created a platform for cooperation, exchange of experience and adjustment of constructive dialogue between domestic and foreign institutions of the city development.

This year a problem of increasing of capabilities of the above-mentioned institutions and an establishment of their cooperation has become currently more important due to new reforms for decentralization of power and expanding this power within local government in Ukraine. It has caused a need for the organization and support of the city development institutions able to perform a number of important tasks for cities and regions more efficiently.

 

Organizers of the Second Ukrainian City Development Institutions Forum 2014 were PU "City Development Institution of Kryvyi Rih" of City Council supported by an Executive Committee of City Council, Ukraine Municipal Local Economic Development Program (MLED) and Swiss-Ukrainian project "Decentralization Support in Ukraine" (DESPRO). It is the second year when the Forum is gladly accepted by the largest enterprise of Mining and Metallurgical Complex of Ukraine – PJSC "ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih".


Almost 80 members participated in this event, they were the representatives of City Development Institutions from different Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Lviv, Chernivtsy, Drogobych, Novyi Rozdil, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Voznesensk) and from Canada (Winnipeg, London, Vernon), a Project "City Economic Development in Ukraine", large enterprisers of the city, namely PJSC "ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih".

 

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Among invited guests there were:

Volodymir Peregudov – a Deputy of the Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council;

Paramzhyt Kalon – acting CEO of PJSC "ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih";

Oleksandr Kucherenko – a Manager of the Ukraine Municipal Local Economic Development Program (MLED);

representatives of City Association of Ukraine (CAU), in particular, the first Deputy of Executive Manager of CAU – Oleksandr Mazurchak.

 

The Forum started with a welcome speech of the Deputy of the City Head Oleksandr Svitlychnyi who emphasized an importance of this event as an effective instrument in the adjustment of the cooperation of the city development institutions.

 

The Forum worked in 3 main directions:
Plenary sessions concerning a discussion of the condition, trends of the development and main directions of the activities of City Development Institutions and their cooperation with socially responsible business on the examples of successfully functioning enterprises;

 

Master classes from leading Ukrainian experts in the area of City Economic Development (Ruslan Kraplych, Vitalyi Kyrpushko,Oleksandr Mazurchak) regarding the main characteristics of work with donors in modern Ukrainian realities, development and implementation of projects, an adjustment of an effective work with authority;

Discussion perspectives of creation of city development institutions' network.


Furthermore, by request of MLED which is financed by the government of Canada, an edition of "City Development Institutions: concept, characteristics, activities" was issued; that is a catalogue of Ukrainian functioning institutions, it reveals the theoretical and practical principals of their functioning. This textbook can be effectively used by governmental officials, representatives of municipality, experts of the city development and initiative groups which are going to create an agency/institution of such a kind.


The most important result of Forum was making a decision about creation of the city development institutions' network, which will include the most active organizations which do provide an effective development of their territories, for instance, City Instite of Lviv, Vinnytsya, Kryvyi Rih, Agencies of City Economic Development of Burshtyn, Ivano- Frankivsk and many others.

 

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The main aim of network creation is:

  • An adjustment of stable and mutually beneficial contacts between Development Institutions regardless of their legal status and ownership;
  • Providing a constant information exchange as to new opportunities, instruments and mechanism of regional and city development;
  • Expanding the best practices of regional and city development, particularly, about products created within the framework of project realization of international technical support and about experience of preparation and realization of investment projects;
  • Increasing a capability of institutions in the implementation of projects of local development.


A key factor of successful functioning of the network is providing a support of governmental and local authorities, because only due to the close cooperation of all interested parties an effective development of territories is possible. Nowadays in Ukraine the following pre-conditions are being created and there are some grounds to hope for a successful operation of the network.


Forum provides a platform for experience exchange, presentation of the main achievements of the institutions, discussion of their problems and identification the ways to solve them.