According to the Agreement, the Parties will cooperate in order to work out mechanisms for participatory decision making and mobilizing resources to finance community-based projects aimed at social integration, recovery and sustainable development.

The Agreement also sets out the Parties’ obligations regarding co-financing of community-based Projects. In total, about USD 400,000 is expected to be contributed by the Project with approximately USD 360,000 to be allocated from local budgets.

The Agreement was signed by Vira Ulyanchenko Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration, and Francis O’Donnell, UN System Coordinator and UNDP Resident Repersentative. The event was attended by Volodymyr Maybozhenko, Head of Kyiv Regional Council and Rémi Duflot, acting Head of Operations of the Delegation of European Commission to Ukraine.

During the official signing ceremony, a list of rayons (districts) selected for their participation in the CBA Project was announced. These are Tetiivskyi, Skvyrskyi, Perayaslav-Khmelnytskyi, Stavyshchenskyi, Ivankivskyi, Myronivskyi, Fastivskyi and Kaharlytskyi rayons and the town of Rzhyshchiv. With a view of further implementation of CBA-related activities in all of these districts, individual Partnership Agreements have been signed with respective leaders during the event.

The selection for participation in the CBA Project means that a rayon, a village or a town, as well as local communities will get a possibility to jointly define priorities in improving their living conditions and apply for financing of one of their initiatives. Approved community projects will be co-financed by the Project (50% from total cost of the project, but not more than USD 10,000), local budgets (at least 45%) and community (at least 5%).

Priority spheres for financing of community-based initiatives include: healthcare, energy, environment, communal transport and water supply system.

Project launched its activities in Kyiv Region on 9 April 2008 by holding a Regional Seminar with participation of Regional and districts` authorities. During the seminar, they were presented with a CBA strategy and action plan, while a call for rayons’ participation in the Project was announced. In total, 11 applicants were ranked, decision about selected rayons were taken jointly with representatives from the Regional State Administration.

CBA Project will support and co-finance initiatives in all regions of Ukraine and Autonomous Republic of Crimea. As of today, Project launched activities in 20 Regions, 13 Partnership Agreements with Regional authorities’ were signed.

The Project was initiated in September 2007. Initiative is financed by the European Commission within the framework of Tacis Programme and co-financed and implemented by UNDP in Ukraine, with support from the Government of Ukraine. Budget of the Project amounts to Euro 13,3 mn. Approximate amount of financing for each Region will constitute USD 400,000.