The Regional Governance and Development (RGD) project is a seven-year (2005-2012) initiative that promotes regional economic development (RED) in Ukraine. RGD’s current efforts focus on working with its Ukrainian partners to establish a practical in-service training program on RED for some 600 civil servants from 13 regions across Ukraine. This program will improve the capacities of local leaders and civil servants to promote sustainable economic development, close the country’s infrastructure deficit, and manage regional finances more effectively.

During the first phase, (2005-2010), RGD assisted the Government of Ukraine to implement the State Strategy for Regional Development (SSRD) in collaboration with two pilot regions, Zaporizhzhia and Zakarpattya. The project also worked with regional and local governments in these two regions to develop, implement and monitor gender- and environmentally responsive development strategies with extensive citizen participation.

In 2010, CIDA extended the RGD project until 2012. During this second phase, the project works in partnership with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and the Main Department of Civil Service (MDCS) to design and deliver nationally-accredited curricula and training programs across 13 regions in Ukraine. Based on a learning-by-doing approach, the programs strengthen the skills of national and regional civil servants to support regional economic development (RED) in Ukraine. As part of the practical component of the training program, RGD supports the participants to develop model approaches in participatory gender- and environmentally responsive RED projects in their respective regions. RGD also continues its partnerships with the MoE and MoRDCH to improve the SSRD and related legislation and policies, and with the Zaporizhzhia region to complete a full-cycle model in strategic planning, implementation and monitoring.

RGD is a cooperation project of the Canadian Urban Institute, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). RGD is implemented in partnership with Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy (MoE) and Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing (MoRDCH), and in association with the Foundation for International Training (Canada) and the National Association of Regional Development Agencies (Ukraine).