On November 8, 2006 the Canada-Ukraine Partnership Project for Regional Governance and Development, (RGD Project) implemented by the Canadian Urban Institute and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, held National forum on “Current Practices and Prospects for Regional Development” in Kyiv. The Forum was organized in partnership with the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and National Association of Regional Development Agencies (NARDA).
The Forum was convened for the express purpose of promoting national-regional dialogue on the social and economic development of Ukraine’s regions and sharing international and local best practices in regional development approaches and tools. 140 participants including representatives of central executive authorities, local executive authorities of the RGD Project’s pilot oblasts – Zakarpattya and Zaporizhzhia, regional development agencies, civil society organizations, academia, international organizations, international technical assistance programs and projects attended the Forum.
Mr. Pavlo Kachur, Advisor to the President to Ukraine, and President of NARDA opened the forum and chaired the plenary session that included keynote presentations made on case studies of Canada and Ukraine in regard to state support for regional development, experience of Lithuanian regional policy under EU accession and membership, trends of regional policy implementation in Ukraine and public engagement in strategic planning and development.
Key speakers at the plenary session of the forum included Her Excellency Mrs. Abina Dann, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, Mrs. Oryssia Lennie, Deputy Minister, Western Economic Diversification Canada, Mr. Sergejus Krispinovicius, Head of Department for Regional Development, Ministry of Interior of Lithuania, Mr. Serhiy Romanyuk, First Deputy Minister of Economy, Mr. Yevhen Chervonenko, Head of Zaporizhzhya Oblast State Administration, Mr. Vasyl Brenzovych, Deputy Head of Zakarpattya Regional Council.
In the afternoon, three concurrent workshops on various issues of regional development took place. Workshop on “Strategic planning for regional development: approaches, public participation and institutions” was chaired by Yevhen Fyshko, First Vice-President of NARDA. Participants engaged in fruitful discussion on legal aspects of improving the state forecasting system and program documents on regional development; institutional, organizational and methodological provisions for strategic planning of regional development; involving regional development institutions, civil society organizations, business representatives and other stakeholders into the development and implementation of regional development strategies; strategic planning best practices; and other issues related to the development of effective, transparent and innovative development strategies through public participation.
“Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Strategies for Regional Development” session was chaired by Myroslava Lendiel, Associate Professor of Uzhgorod National University. Topics for discussion included legal and institutional provisions and procedures for monitoring and evaluation of regional development strategies and programs; best practices and international experience in monitoring and evaluation of strategies and programs; role of public in evaluation of regional development strategies; and other issues related to improving monitoring and evaluation of development programs in Ukraine.
Markiyan Datsyshyn, Head of Service of the Presidential Secretariat of Ukraine chaired the third session that was dedicated to the topic of “State Support to Regional Development”. Participants discussed mechanisms for overcoming economically depressed areas; institutions and mechanisms for promoting regional development, including supplementary opportunities for and decisions on improving state financing at the regional level; public-private partnerships for regional development; and other issues related to the active implementation of state regional policy.
The success of the forum allowed the RGD Project to gather a wide range of ideas, opinions, and concerns from key stakeholders in Ukraine’s regional governance and development, which will be instrumental in informing the next phase of the project and in responding to Ukraine’s needs in this field.
Agenda of the National Forum List of Participants |
