The Third phase of joint EU/UNDP Project “Community Based Approach” was officially launched in Zakarpatska oblast. The presentation took place on 17 October during regional seminar under participation of head of oblast council Ivan Baloha, head of oblast state administration Vasyl Hubal, UNDP in Ukraine Senior Programme Manager Oksana Remiha, Community development specialist of EU/UNDP Project “Community Based Approach” Olena Ruditch, heads of rayon state administrations and rayon councils; and heads of village and city councils.

The launch event gathered together regional and local authorities, civil societies, private sector and media to discuss cooperation for promoting community-led local sustainable development further to improve the living conditions of people in Zakarpattia.

Head of Oblast council Ivan Baloha mentioned that this kind of projects is a good motivation for communities.   “Observing how Project was working during previous seven years – we can say that it really promotes development of civil society, mobilizes communities for addressing local issues. In my opinion implementation of previous two phases of the Project was successful and fruitful. This is a European approach, as people define community problems by themselves, attract costs for their implementation and monitor all works on every stage.”

Head of oblast state administration Vasyl Hubal underlined that this cooperation is very importantfor the region. “EU and UNDP issue costs for communities to improve the level of living. Communities jointly with local authorities define priorities for using these funds for communities’ welfare. Oblast authorities supported and will further support these initiatives. I am sure that joint work of local authorities, community leaders will enable implementation of the Third phase in time», -underlined Vasyl Hubal.

During the launching of the Third phase of the CBA Project a Partnership Agreement was signed with Zakarpatska oblast state administration, Zakarpatska oblast council and UNDP. The main goal is the willingness of local communities and local authorities to implement the community based approach in a full-scale. In terms of the agreement 8 rayons will be selected based on the results of a competition for participation in the project for the next 4 years. The Application form can be found: http://www.cba.org.ua/three/ua/news/announcements/2616-application-form-for-rayons-for-partnership-with-cba.

Third phase of the Project will support local authorities in dissemination of best practices and experience in participatory planning and further dissemination of the community based approach in Zakarpatska oblast.  The Project activities will focus on rehabilitation of social and communal infrastructure in the area of energy efficiency, health care, environment, water supply, rural economy.

Implementation of the first phase of CBA Project commenced in Zakarpattia during March 2008. First phase was succeeded by a second phase in July 2011. Over these two phases more than 100 ths. of men, women and children of the region have benefitted from improvement in 62 schools/kindergartens, 24 healthposts, 5 water supply, 23 street-lightning and so on. This happened through joint effort of the citizens, oblast/rayon/local level governments, CBA Project and the private sponsors

Third phase of CBA project will be implemented during 2014-2018 with a total budget of 23.8 million Euro, provided by the European Union (23 million Euro) and UNDP (800,000 Euro). Its objective is to promote sustainable socio-economic development at local level by strengthening participatory governance and fostering community-led initiatives across Ukraine.