March 2009
Precarpathia shares the experience of government and community cooperation
Local government and NGO representatives from Moldova and Romania came with a study tour to Ivano-Frankivsk Region, which lasted from April 14 to April 18, 2008. The study tour was organized under the Romanian-Moldovan-Ukrainian project “Strengthening the Civil Society Capacity in Building Partnerships with Local Governments”, implemented by the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk, with the support of “East-East Program: Partnership without Border” program of the International “Renaissance” Foundation.
The study tour program included an international conference “Local Governments and the Community: Cooperation and Prospects”, organized with the support from Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council and Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration on April 15. Chair of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council, Mr. Ihor Oliynyk, and Deputy Chair of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, Mr. Volodymyr Skvarylyuk, took part in the conference. The guests from Romania and Moldova learned about the practical experience of Ivano-Frankivsk Region in citizen involvement into the decision-making process, and the activities of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council and Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, their departments and offices.
The delegates discussed such issues as identifying efficient mechanisms and tools for cooperation between the local governments and the community. Such cooperation yields public trust to the government decisions. Besides, if the local governments and the communities act together, the central government will be more willing to address the local issues. Reports on citizen involvement into the decision making process were made by Veaceslav Gututui, Director of the Conflict Resolution Institute INRECO (Moldova), and Mihai Lisetchi, Director of the Agency for Information and Development of Non-Govrenmental Organizations (Romania).Mariya Kovaliv, Deputy Chair of the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk, told about the organization and activities of Advisory Boards, Community Boards, and Coordination Committees. They proved their efficiency and influence on developing inter-sector partnership in the decision-making process on the local level. The issue of cooperation between the local government and the community is closely related to the issue of local government transparency. It is obvious that the community can be involved into the decision-making process to the extent that the government is transparent. Other speakers who discussed the issue of cooperation included Vitaliy Semkinv, Director of the Main Department of Tourism, European Integration, Foreign Relations and Investment of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, Rostyslav Stasko, acting Director of the Internal Policy Department, Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, Viktor Petrenko, Chairman of the Chair on Regional Economic Development Management, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical Oil and Gas University.
The delegates discussed citizen involvement into developing and implementing projects in tourism, which is a priority industry for the Region. They learned about the Strategy for Developing and Marketing Tourism in Ivano-Frankivsk Region until 2015 and the monitoring process over its implementation. The speech on this topic was given by Ivan Pidleteychuk, councilor of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council, Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and Tourism .
The delegates noted the importance of the Coordination Board on Monitoring the Strategy implementation, which was set up in 2006 in order to trace the implementation of the regional tourism development strategy and offering consultations on strategic issues to the regional authorities. Its members include representatives from the Regional Council, the Regional State Administration, NGOs, tourist businesses, educational and research institutions. Such a broad membership allowed for an open and constructive dialogue focusing on the industry development, which is extremely important for the region as a whole and for the rural communities in particular. The public initiatives that focus not only on raising the issues, but also on developing strategic solutions, prove the importance of citizen involvement at all levels. This experience also proves that advisory bodies, in most cases, make a considerable contribution to identifying and addressing specific problems of individual communities, and in those areas which the local government is responsible for. Citizen involvement into the advisory bodies helps to build trust to the local governments, thus making a contribution to improving the quality of their performance.
Another important event during the foreign delegation visit was a meeting with local tourist companies in the Regional Tourist and Information Centre.The study tour participants were informed about the activities and the development of a network of tourist and information centers in the region.
On April 16, the delegation visited Dolyna district and the city of Dolyna, where they learned about the activities of local NGOs and self-governments. The guests from Moldova and Romania were welcomed by Vasyl Romanyuk, Chair of Dolyna District Council, Vasyl Ivanyshyn, Chair of Dolyna District State Administration, and Vyacheslav Morenko, Director of “Carpathian Tram” ltd.
Nadvirna visit, which took place on April 17, was devoted to such issues as local governments and NGOs activities; informing the public about their activities; monitoring the quality of public services, including housing and utilities services; the experience of setting up condominiums; and the activities of community boards. These problems were discussed by Ihor Seredyuk, Deputy Chair of Nadvirna District Council, Volodymyr Pavlyuk, Deputy Chair of Nadvirna District State Administration, Zinoviy Andriyovyck, the City Mayor, Oleh Yosypenko, Deputy Mayor, Ivan Kotsko, Director of Nadvirna Business Support Fund, and Oleksandr Zvarchuk, Deputy Director of the Department on Culture and Tourism with the District State Administration.At the same day the study tour participants met with acting Yaremche Mayor Vasyl Onutchak and Deputy Mayor Ihor Yakivchuk. Here, the delegation visited Tatariv Community Support Fund. They also got acquainted with the development of the tourist infrastructure and tourist attractions, including the Bukovel ski resort.During the project the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk established business ties with Romanian and Moldovan NGOs that are interested in developing joint projects in the context of cross-border cooperation and EU neighbourhood programs.
Before this study tour, the project organized visits to Chisinau (Moldova) and Timisoara (Romania).
The project helped to establish an open dialogue between local government and NGO representatives from the three countries, identify common and similar problems, start looking for their solutions, discuss the best practices of the member countries in establishing and operative community committees.
For reference:
“Strengthening the Civil Society Capacity in Building Partnerships with Local Governments” project implemented by the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk, with the support of “East-East Program: Partnership without Border” program of the International “Renaissance” Foundation. The project partners include three NGOs from Moldova (Chisinau Municipality - Conflict Resolution Institute INRECO), Romania (Timisoara Municipality – Agency for Information and Development of Non-Governmental Organizations) and Ukraine (Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk). The project is aimed at sharing the experience between local government and NGO representatives from Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine (Chisinau, Timisoara, and Ivano-Frankivsk Region) in order to encourage social activities of the local NGOs and community organizations, improving the capacity of the civil society to promote efficient governance on the local level.
The international cooperation under the project will help to develop relations between Chisinau, Timisoara, and Ivano-Frankivsk Region, introduce positive experience into democracy building for the local governments in these communities, establish direct links between the representatives of the local communities and NGOs, enhance communication between NGOs of the three countries.
