UNDP helps four Crimean districts compose long-term development strategies
On the New Year's eve celebrations, district councils of Bakhchisaray, Dzhankoy, Pervomayskoye and Sovetskoye Districts have completed the process of adopting their long-term development strategies. These documents became the results within the joint project entitled “Integrated strategic planning and strategic environmental assessment in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea”, which was carried out by four local governments and the UNDP-led Crimea Integration and Development Programme.
A number of public hearings was organised in early December to allow the adoption of strategic plans. Those hearings attracted district council members, heads of village councils and local deputies, representatives of non-governmental organisations, local business and ordinary rural population willing to make their own contributions into the crucial decision-making which has a direct impact on their districts’ future.
“During the Soviet times, long-term planning did exist, but the plans were done somewhere in the centre, and they merely dropped onto the local level. Today, no one is thinking for the people, no plans are written. The district development strategy for as long as 2017 or 2020 is the first solid attempt for us to come together and jointly think about our own future”, Leonid Tselischev, UNDP CIDP economy expert, said in one of his speeches at a public hearing.
Despite abundant reference materials and the plethora of national and international projects working on long-term planning, Ukrainian regional and local authorities still do not have enough managerial capacity to put into practice participatory strategic planning approach. As experience shows, strategic plans often remain nothing but mere writing of a group of experts; they never become a practical guide-for-action for authorities and civil society.
“UNDP CIDP project was, from the very beginning, aimed at building up practical skills among people involved into elaborating long-term plans. Those skills needed to correspond to main strategic planning principles. One of them is participation of all those interested in defining the vision and the road map for local development”, Andriy Shevtsov, UNDP CIDP specialist in charge of the project, explains. “This approach allows to secure that all socio-economic areas get enough attention and varied tasks are harmonised, on the one hand, while people are supportive of long-term priorities, on the other.”
Within the project framework, during 2009, a group of UNDP CIDP experts provided consultative and training support to Strategic Planning Coordination Councils created under each participating state district administration. The configuration of the support was chosen in a way to allow local authorities and local civil society leaders to invest themselves and involve the public into developing strategic plans as much as possible.
“At all project stages the partners ensured maximum wide public coverage and involvement of local communities, local governments and NGOs. As a result, the developed strategies reflect the concerted vision of socio-economic priorities by the authorities and the population”, Andriy Shetsov adds.
Moreover, for the first time in Ukraine the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) approach was applied in such a context. SEA has been earlier recognised by the European Union, and more generally by the UN, as an effective approach to assessing the impact of socio-economic activities on the environment. Besides direct benefits of checking strategic goals against environmental needs, the application of SEA, which is as a kind of quality standard, gives additional chances to attract investments to meet the targets set in the district strategies.
Ayder Seitosmanov, UNDP CIDP regional development adviser, underlines that the “Integrated strategic planning and strategic environmental assessment” project has already been a success, as confirmed by Crimean Ministry of Economy.
“The success of the project is, first of all, witnessed by district councils approving development strategies in Bakhchisaray, Dzhankoy, Pervomayskoye and Sovetskoye districts, over these last days of 2009. Moreover, the ARC Ministry of Economy has highly assessed the input of UNDP CIDP into building capacity and skills of local governments in strategic planning. Therefore, we have reached our goal.”
“However, tangible results for the people are bound to appear in the future – when they start implementing their long-term plans. Fortunately, there is no long waiting, as 2010 is already knocking on our door!” he added.
