Kyiv, 14 December - Recognising the need to promote community-based development in Ukraine and raise public awareness about the opportunities of this approach across Ukraine, UN Development Programme has released a documentary film entitled “A Step Ahead: How Ukrainian Communities Are Helping Themselves”.
The film's main idea is when Ukrainian communities are empowered to take charge of their destiny, they are able to use their collective strength to help themselves The film was produced in partnership with the Centre for Ukrainian Reform Education. What important about this community-based approach to local participatory development is that it tries to build up the skills and competencies of local communities and their local leadership in order to promote a sense of self-empowerment, as many experts agree.
And this is extremely important in the historical context of Ukraine because after a legacy of decades of centralised Communist rule it is important that people can overcome their very deep-rooted sense of dependency on authorities. And that instead they realize the extent to which they can actually achieve their own fulfillment through self-empowerment, through self-organisation, through self-mobilisation.
"We hope, that community mobilisation and improved dialogue and cooperation between citizens, their associations, and local government will lay ground for local sustainable development in Ukraine," Francis O'Donnell, UNDP Resident Representative said during the film's official presentation today. "In the context of Ukraine's political development, it also promotes democratic accountability. We see that local leaders are being held accountable for delivering on the promises that they make to their people. And citizens also understand better the challenges of leadership and appreciate better the qualities of good leadership, which helps them eventually in democratic election process", he added.
The film "A Step Ahead: How Ukrainian Communities Are Helping Themselves" is about the partnerships among local communities, authorities and business. The filmmakers wanted to share their experience and views on the importance of community based development in Ukraine.
During the film, its characters prove that unity represents real power. No matter how difficult a situation may be, it is bound to bring real improvements when a community takes action. In partnership with local government, business and civil society, as well as international development agencies, communities are able to stimulate and sustain processes of local development and promote democratic local governance, working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Ukraine.
The film shows the strength of local communities and their potential to improve local living conditions in rural and urban areas across Ukraine: Zamglay village (Chernihiv region), Novohrad-Volynskiy (Zhytomyr region), Ivano-Frankivsk, Sevastianivka, Zavitne and Poshtove villages (Bakhchisarayskiy district, Crimea), Strepetove and Drofyne villages (Nyzhniogirsky district, Crimea).
The film is based on the experiences gained by the United Nations Development Programme and its community-based local development projects in Ukraine, including the "Crimea Integration and Development Programme", "Chornobyl Recovery and Development Programme", "Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme", and their local counterparts.
At present, UNDP-led local development programmes are implemented in 12 regions (oblasts), 39 districts (rayons), including all 14 districts of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 17 districts in Chornobyl affected areas, as well as 20 municipalities across Ukraine. In 2008 with a financial support from the European Union, UNDP will significantly expand the implementation of local development initiatives in all of Ukraine's regions.
In total, over 2005-06 UNDP assisted 538 communities, supported the implementation of 419 community projects and 12 municipalities joined partnership with UNDP. Over the same period of time, a total of about USD 8mn was spent on supporting area-based development.
The film's producers are very grateful to our national and international partners for their commitment and joint efforts in advancing the human development agenda in Ukraine. Specifically, our partners include: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TICA), Government of Japan; Government of Norway, Government of the Netherlands.
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For more information or to get a copy of this film, please, contact Sergiy Grytsenko, UNDP Communications Officer, tel (+38044 253 9363).
17.12.07
