A
delegation of foreign partners and donors is on a two-day visit to Crimea. The
visit participants, representing European Commission, the Governments of the
Netherlands, Sweden,Turkey, the United Kingdom and USA will meet with its
Crimean republican government partners and local authorities, representatives
of territorial communities and their organizations, and the experts working
within UNDP Crimea Integration and Development Programme (CIDP).
The
visit’s overal goal is to discuss the achieved results and define
long-term sustainable and effective solutions for social and economic
problems and overal human development challenges faced by the
multi-ethnic population of Crimea.
Earlier today the delegation met with Crimean Verkhovna Rada Speaker Anatoliy Grytsenko and members of the Crimean Council of Ministers.
Over
fourteen years after joining partnership with UN Development Porgramme,
the Republic’s 14 districts were supported in carrying out their local
sustainable development projects amounting to over USD 34mn, while
about 200,000 people have benefited from these community-based
initiatives, according to UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine Francis O’Donnell.
According to Grytsenko,
UNDP CIDP has largely enhanced its cooperation with the government
bodies of the Autonomous Republic in the recent years, especially with
the local government. This cooperation allows for increased
effectiveness in selecting and implementing projects that are of social
significance for the Crimean society.
“We
are well aware of the amended strategy of UNDP CIDP until 2010, which
fully coincides with the priorities of the Crimean government. At this
stage of development in Crimea it is vital that while having a critical
mass of projects, implemented with the UNDP CIDP support, successful
development models are replicated in all rural districts of the
Autonomous republic,” he said.
In
the period 2004-2008, CIDP has supported 490 local development projects
for a total sum of USD 13,558,500, out of which USD 5,361,726
represents CIDP’s contribution and USD 8,218,207 are local partners’
contributions.
In
2008, UNDP Crimea Integration and Development Programme supported
projects in 27 villages of 12 Crimean districts. A total of 29 projects
in the areas of good governance, education, local economic development
and strategic planning have been implemented.
In
the period from January to September 2008, CIDP’s contribution to the
supported projects amounted to UAH 2.905.321 while, considering the
cost-sharing mode of financing, the total value of CIDP supported
projects was UAH 8.644.847.
During
the meeting the participants agreed that one of Crimea’s key assets is
its ethnic and cultural diversity. Recognizing the necessity of
diversification for the sphere of tourism in our region, it was agreed
to support the concept of providing more opportunities to rural
communities in developing business-models for green and ethno-tourism.
35% of direct beneficiaries belong to formerly deported people (FDP)
group.
According to Grytsenko,
the republican authorities are willing to integrate the experience
accumulated by UNDP CIDP into the ARC strategic development plans.
“We
believe, though, that the main outcome of our cooperation is unifying
the efforts of people of various ethnic backgrounds for universal human
values, thus strengthening peace and interethnic harmony on the
peninsula,” he said.
Finally,
in Grytsenko’s words, the Crimean authorities are going to consider
establishing a regional development agency in Crimea that could
overtake the role and functions which are currently fulfilled by CIDP,
once the Programme finishes its activities.
Speaking
during the official meeting Francis O’Donnell praised the long-lasting
and fruitful cooperation the UNDP and its international partners enjoy
in Crimea. According to O’Donnell, the UNDP-led Crimean Integration and
Development Programme “is not a purely UNDP’s programme anymore, but
the Programme of Crimea’s people.
“When
we look at financial statistics, most of the funding is actually coming
from the Crimean government and local communities that the CIDP is
supporting. All the donors’ contributions do not even reach the volume
provided by our Ukrainian counterparts. Therefore, in a great sense,
the future of this Programme is in your hands. Because it is your
programme, more than ours”, O’Donnell said.
Importantly,
the UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine has fully supported Crimean
authorities’ idea of creating a regional development agency in Crimea
which will be a successor to CIDP. “This is exactly the direction that we need to pursue,” he added.
At the same time, Laura Garagnani,
Coordinator for Cooperation at the European Commission in Ukraine,
called the idea to create a regional development agency “an excellent
move”.
“We
believe that the idea about the creation of a regional development
agency you’ve announced is an excellent move. This agency could become
a platform not only for attracting donor funds, but more importantly
the investors’ funds,” she said.
Finally,
Garagnani confirmed EC’s willingness to help Crimean government study
the EU experience in regional development by organising specific study
tours to see how the EU countries’ experience could be reflected in
establishing a similar institution in Crimea.
Moreover,
today, with EU’s financial support the sustainable social and economic
development is being actively promoted in 22 municipalities across
Ukraine, four Chernobyl-affected regions, Autonomous Republic of Crimea
and all regions of Ukraine.
The community-based local development approach is applied in all local activities held with UNDP support at the local level.
It
proved to be effective in both urban and rural areas, and turned out to
be particularly successful in community mobilization for improvement of
local housing and communal infrastructure, solving the problems of
education sector, reducing unemployment, and enhancing quality of the
social services delivery.
Background info:
UNDP
CIDP was established in 1995. It was created in response to the complex
challenges of social and economic nature as well as a number of
specific events, with particular attention to the mass return of more
than 260,000 representatives of ethnic groups deported by the Soviet
government in 1944.
Responding
to the changing development situation in Crimea over the last 14 years,
CIDP applied different approaches in different programme phases.
Following an emergency response approach during the first two phases
(1995 –
2000), the programme has been shifting to a social mobilization
approach during its third phase (2001 – 2004), while during the fourth
phase (2005 – 2007) CIDP complemented this with an integrated approach
to regional development in Crimea that goes beyond the community level
to intervene at the policy level.
During
its last phase (2008 to 2011), CIDP will work to further disseminate
its positive experience, models and approaches, bring up to national
level those issues which cannot be solved regionally and ensure the
sustainability of structures and partnerships created within the
framework of CIDP activities. It will also develop an exit strategy
enabling it to transfer its knowledge base, human and technical capital
to a Crimean based structure whose role will be to support the region’s
further development process.
For more information, please, contact Vyacheslav
Toporov at +380652 248 002 or visit www.undp.crimea.ua.
19.11.08
