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The experience of creating long-term strategic plans by individual districts and their further implementation, including funds allocation, were on the agenda of the conference entitled “Districts’ sustainable development planning as the foundation of Crimea’s strategy”. The conference was held in Simferopol, ARC, by the UNDP-led Crimea Integration and Development Programme and the regional Ministry of economy.
Four districts of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea – Bakhchisaraysky, Dzhankoysky, Pervomaysky and Sovetsky – presented their respective sustainable development strategies. The elaboration of these strategies was supported by UNDP CIDP experts in the framework of “Integrated strategic planning and strategic environmental assessment” project.
“Initially we could hardly imagine that our district, subsidized as it is, would even be capable to undertake such immense work on strategic planning”, said Enver Mazin, deputy head of Sovetsky district state administration.
The guests of the conference had an opportunity to discuss the methodology and issues of daily work on district sustainable development strategies. They paid special attention to the positive experience of civil society involvement into strategic planning processes: non-governmental organisations took active part in creating district development plans at all stages. Moreover, district authorities carried out several rounds of public hearings and consultations. These attracted over 5,000 citizens.
“Today, the experience of Crimea in elaboration of long-term development strategies at the level of districts is unique for Ukraine. It is particularly valuable that the eventual documents are reflecting real needs and vision of districts’ population”, said Adeline Gonay, UNDP CIDP International Programme Coordinator.
Another unique feature of the project is the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which is a powerful approach to evaluating the impact of social and economic activities onto the local environment. Although Ukraine joined the international Protocol on SEA in 2003, the implementation of this approach still remains rare in our country.
“Strategic Environmental Assessment is quite a new tool. However, it has already been widely tested: SEA is used extensively in the European Union, it has become a common thing in North America”, said Olena Borysova, UNDP CIDP expert. “Strategic Environmental Assessment in Crimea has allowed integrating ecological development priorities into strategic documents, harmonizing economic and social development goals with environmental needs. The observance of all SEA recommendations during the implementation of strategies will allow, in particular, to avoid possible conflicts over access to natural resources”.
The conference in Simferopol attracted national and regional ministries, international and local experts, technical aid projects active in Ukraine, Crimean district authorities. The event finished the yearlong cycle of UNDP CIDP project entitled “Integrated strategic planning and strategic environmental assessment in the ARC”.
“Throughout 2009 a group of UNDP CIDP experts provided consulting and training support to coordination councils and working groups on strategic planning which were created under district state administrations of the four participant districts. The format for this expert support was chosen to allow maximum direct participation of local authorities and local community leaders in elaborating strategic plans, and to involve civil society”, said Ayder Seitosmanov, UNDP CIDP Regional Development Adviser.
Strategic Planning Coordination Councils, comprising district authorities, village councils, NGOs and local business representatives, managed and coordinated the overall process of strategies’ elaboration. Most substantive work was done by four sector working groups in each district. Each one was responsible for a specific sector strategy. Throughout the project, UNDP CIDP experts gave numerous consultations and mini training sessions to working groups and Coordination Councils. The experts met working group members on regular basis; they assisted with various tasks aimed at creating sector strategies. Moreover, the experts held a number of larger training sessions on sustainable development, democratic leadership, social partnership, planning methodology, strategic environmental assessment and SWOT-analysis.
The yearlong work was concluded with district councils of Bakhchisaraysky, Dzhankoysky, Pervomaysky and Sovetsky approving their respective strategic plans of socio-economic development in December 2009. The ARC Ministry of economy expressed its support and high appreciation for the input UNDP CIDP has made into building capacity of local governance in Crimea.
“We will include all projects that form the strategies into our programmes of socio-economic development. These projects will be the priority for republican budget funds allocation. In addition to that, as you may know, the Ministry of Economy carries out huge work on attraction of external investments. And, naturally, we will draw the investors’ attention... to implementation of projects within district strategies framework”, stated Tatiana Sukhoterina, deputy ARC Minister of economy, at the press-conference.
In 2010 UNDP CIDP will further cooperate with republican and district authorities in order to help them implement the development strategies approved, and to elaborate strategic plans in other ARC districts. During the conference, the delegates of those districts expressed their readiness and firm aspiration to introduce similar processes. UNDP CIDP also plans to prepare a detailed strategic planning manual and a training programme based upon 2009 project implementation experience.
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