On 8 November, the Drohobych Diia.Centre hosted a forum entitled “Partnership for the Strategic Development of the Drohobych Community”. The event was held within the framework of the project “Research on the Impact and Contribution of Civil Society to the Recovery and Development of Communities”, organised by the Institute “Respublica” with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.
The forum brought together representatives of local authorities, led by the head of the community Taras Kuchma and deputy for humanitarian and social relations Yuriy Kushlyk, director of the Drohobych City Institute Volodymyr Kondziolka, as well as numerous representatives of Drohobych City Council departments, NGOs, youth, IDPs and others.
The topic that united the participants was the importance of strategic planning for communities. After all, strategies have long been no longer a know-how, but a reasonable requirement of the times for further development and multisectoral planning of communities, and the development of specific goals for the future.
At the beginning of the forum, all participants were greeted by Drohobych Mayor Taras Kuchma, who stressed that it is impossible for a community to move forward without a development strategy. After all, any subventions and investments are considered only through the prism of community development, namely, its strategy.
It is very important that the strategy is developed not only by officials, but also by active residents and public institutions. We have recently added a section on youth policy to the Sustainable Development Strategy of our community. After all, young people are the driving force behind further changes in the country in general and in our community in particular. Our main task in the further development of the community is safety, comfort and constant positive changes in education, medicine and culture – the three important pillars on which society rests. We also aim to ensure that Drohobych continues to develop as a city of youth and students. We have all the prerequisites for this – after all, our hromada has recently been replenished with a new higher education institution, Donetsk National Technical University, which will also contribute to the development of our youth and their scientific talents,” Taras Kuchma emphasised,.
The forum began with a presentation of a study in the Drohobych community “Influence and Consolidation of Stakeholders in the Recovery and Strategic Development of Communities” by Natalia Malynovska, Project Manager of the Institute “Respublica”.
Then Volodymyr Kondziolka, Director of the Drohobych City Institute, took the floor and told the forum participants in detail about the process of forming the development strategy of the Drohobych community, its priority goals and objectives.
The ability to qualitatively study one’s needs, clearly formulate long-term goals and, most importantly, achieve them remains a key condition for high-quality local self-government and improving the living standards of Ukrainian communities.
It is important to understand that the strategy should be both a product and a tool for the entire community, not just the local government. Ideally, the action plan envisaged in the strategy should be implemented through the joint efforts of local authorities, local NGOs, business representatives, and residents themselves. The Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Drohobych City Territorial Community is set out until 2030, and it is very important that this year the entire community worked on approving changes to it – this includes our Municipal Institution “Drohobych City Institute”, the All-Ukrainian Initiative “Active Community” from the Institute “Respublica”, as well as the Department of Family and Youth, public institutions, etc. As a result, we made changes to the strategy by adding a section on “Youth Policy as a Driving Force for Community Development. For this purpose, open electronic consultations with the public and public discussions were held”, , – said Volodymyr Kondziolka.
In general, the goal of the Drohobych community strategy is to ensure the sustainable development of the entire community as a human-centred centre of innovative economy and medicine. In addition to the economy and healthcare, education is also among the main areas of focus. However, according to Volodymyr Kondziolka, clear changes and reforms are needed here. The policy and goals of the local government are such that educational centres – lyceums and gymnasiums – should be centres of innovation and quality development of children, with modern equipment and profiling from secondary or even primary school. Therefore, the funds from the local budget to support the education sector should be used exclusively to cover such specific goals as updating the material and technical bases of schools, and not for “eating away”, said Mr Kondziolka. After all, a motivated student who is comprehensively developed and has a clear vision of what he or she wants to be in the future is a godsend for an employer.
As part of the forum, the participants also listened to speakers on strategically important areas of community development, namely:
– Yuriy Yatskiv, energy manager, and Taras Perhun, chief specialist of the Investment and Economic Development Department, spoke on “Sustainable energy development of the community and citizen engagement”.
– Iryna Shymushovska, Head of the Tourist Information Centre, made a presentation on “Inter-municipal cooperation in the field of tourism as a component of regional development. The experience of Drohobych”.
– Oleksandra Pashko, Head of the Family and Youth Department, reported on “Youth policy as a strategic direction of the community”.
– Volodymyr Chuba, Head of the Healthcare Department, made a presentation on “Implementation of the Healthcare Reform: Current Challenges”.
– Olena Melenchuk, Deputy Head of the Department of Architecture and Urban Development, spoke about “Barrier-free accessibility in the Drohobych community as part of the National Strategy until 2030”.
– Oleh Petrenko, Head of Drohobych Saltworks, presented a report on “Drohobych Saltworks: Challenges and Prospects”.
Forum moderators: Olena Yurkevych and Andriy Yurkevych.