April 2009
Ukrainian-Moldovan-Romanian Initiative
Representatives from the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk, Kalush Department on Housing and Utilities, and the Executive Board of Dolyna City Council visited Chisinau (Moldova) under the framework of the Ukrainian-Moldovan-Romanian Initiative “Strengthening the Civil Society Capacity in Building Partnerships with Local Governments” on May 27-30, 2007.
May 28, Ukrainian delegation took part in the final conference “Community Advisory Boards and their Cooperation with the Local Government” and shared the experience of setting up and running advisory boards in Ivano-Frankivsk.
The conference participants included representatives from the three countries, members of the initiative, municipality of Chisinau, the Association of condominiums, and Moldova NGOs.The delegations from Ukraine and Romania met the Rector of Moldova Economic Academy Constantine Enciu. During the meeting they shared the experience of economic and social development in their countries; presented the best practices of the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk in regional and innovative development; discussed further cooperation opportunities with the Association and utilizing its experience in preparing joint international projects.
During the visit, Ukrainian delegation members met Oleg Cherney, a city councilor and a Chair of the Committee on Housing and Utilities with Chisinau Municipal Council. They learned about the local experience in establishing and running household committees, condominiums, and a unified centre for communal payments.
Sharing the experience with the representatives of Moldova NGOs, delegation members discussed ideas on developing and implementing international projects in regional and local economic development, developing the infrastructure and the tourism industry of the regions. The practical experience of the Association for Economic Development of Ivano-Frankivsk and its achievements in preparing local development strategies, monitoring local governments, and building cooperation between the government and the third sector in order to develop local communities form the basis for future cooperation and sharing the experience with the neighbouring countries.
Another important discussion dealt with the practical experience of Kalush and Dolyna City Executive Boards in improving the transparency of the local governments and citizen involvement into the decision making process.
As the result of the discussion, Ukrainian delegation members shared the experience with Moldova and Romania representatives and jointly developed specific proposals for improving the transparency and accountability of the local governments.
About the project
„Strengthening the Civil Society Capacity in Building Partnerships with Local Governments" project is aimed at information exchange between the representatives of the local governments and NGOs in 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 project envisages 4 visits for experience sharing.
In March this year, the representatives of NGOs and local government authorities from Ivano-Frankivsk Region will have the opportunity to visit Timisoara (Romania) and familiarize themselves with the activities of Timisoara and Arad municipalities, and their experience in setting up and operating neighbourhood community boards.
In April, Ivano-Frankivsk will host an international conference on citizen involvement into the decision-making process. At the same time there will be study tours to Dolyna, Nadvirna, and Yaremche devoted local self-governments.
The project is implemented with the financial support of the “East-East” 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 international cooperation under the “Strengthening the Civil Society Capacity in Building Partnerships with Local Governments” 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.
