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| 400 RURAL COMMUNITIES PROVED THAT TOGETHER IS MORE EFFICIENTKyiv, 15 October 2009 - Steering Committee of the joint EU/UNDP Community Based Approach to Local Development Project (CBA) gathered for the 2nd annual meeting to hear about the progress and results of the second year of Project's activities aimed at mobilization of 1000 local communities and improvement of the living standards in rural areas. CBA National Steering Committee comprises representatives of key stakeholders - ministries, parliamentary committees and relevant national associations. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Myroslava Didukh, Project Manager of CBA from the Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine and Mr. Olivier Adam, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative. During the Steering Committee meeting, CBA Project highlighted major achievement of its second year activities: - Establishment of partnerships wish 24 regions and AR Crimea, 200 pilot districts (rayons) and 1000 village councils. 1000 local communities are mobilized to jointly work on improvement of their living quality. In other words, more than 200 000 households (about 275 000 rural area residents) got involved in the project activities to carry out initiatives on improvement of their living conditions. - More than 650 trainings were conducted to teach local communities (a) how to create and manage their Community Organization, (b) how to draft, mainstream and implement community development plans; (c) how to prepare and implement their micro-project. More than 11'500 local activists and about 3600 employees of local councils participated in these trainings. - Of 1000 targeted, 404 community projects are approved, still about 600 pilot organizations are in the process of drafting their project documentation. It is expected that all 1000 community projects will be completed within 2010. Communities chose their priorities at general meetings by voting. Statistics shows that 55% of communities prioritized energy saving in local schools, kindergartens and medical institutions, 21% repair local medical institutions and purchase new equipment; 17% opted for installing or repair of water supply system; 6% of projects - purchase of a school bus. Average cost of community project - UAH 144'000. As of October 2009, 15 community projects are completed. - Financing is released for 404 approved micro-projects: UAH 26 mln came from CBA Project, UAH 26 mln was allocated from local budgets of different levels (village, district, regional). Communities collect membership fees to contribute to the project (more than UAH 4,5 mln.) and raise funds of local sponsors (about UAH 1 mln). Mr Valeriy Asadchev, Head of Poltava oblast state administration participated presented to the Steering Committee his region's experience of implementation of CBA Project. Participants openly and frankly discussed the problems and challenges that CBA and local communities encountered. National stakeholders assure in their continuing support and assistance to CBA initiatives and discussed ways of closer cooperation and coordination of activities for a common goal of Ukrainian government and donors - sustainable local development in Ukraine. CBA Steering Committee reviewed Project's outlook for 2010: completion of targeted community projects and mobilization of additional resources for further scaling up of CBA.. For further information about CBA Project, please refer to Ms Ganna Yatsyuk Communications and Monitoring Specialist. Теl./fax: (+380 44) 208-3618, (067) 717-70-22. E-mail: ganna.yatsyuk@undp.org.ua. INFORMATION NOTE Community Based Approach to Local Development Project (CBA) was launched in December 2007 as a national upscaling of UNDP's experience on Area Based Development Approach. The motto of the Project is “More Efficient Together!”. The Project is funded by the European Commission within the framework of its Tacis technical assistance and is co-financed and implemented by UNDP. Its duration is for 3.5 years and total budget is €13.3 million with 90% contribution from EU and 10% cost sharing from UNDP. CBA Project aims to improve living conditions in rural/urban communities with less than 10,000 population; demonstrate effective participatory local governance; enhance relevant professional skills of community organizations and; improve institutional capacity of the local authorities. It uses social mobilisation technique to mobilise local communities, elected bodies, state authorities, NGOs and private sector to make joint decisions and share their resources to promote the principles of sustainable development at local level. CBA Project supports and co-finances initiatives in all regions of Ukraine and Autonomous Republic of Crimea. As of today, Project launched activities and concluded partnerships in all Regions of Ukraine. It covers 200 districts, 995 village/city councils under the framework of partnership. CBA Project has mobilized 953 communities encompassing about 190,000 persons, 42% males, 58% females from about 253,000 households and organized them into community organizations founded on the norms of good governance. All these COs are enrolled at village/city councils to get a formal recognition/linkage with them. Also, 790 of them have got registered at state registration agency under NGOs, cooperative or other appropriate legal form. CBA plans to develop more than 1000 community based formal organisations in the country. The Project was initiated in September 2007. Initiative is financed by the European Commission within the framework of Tacis Programme and co-financed and implemented by UNDP in Ukraine, with support from the Government of Ukraine. Budget of the Project amounts to Euro 13,3 mn. Approximate amount of financing for each Region will constitute USD 400,000. List of institutions represented at CBA Steerign Committee meeting
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