Truskavets community starts cooperation with UNIDO – priorities include healthcare, humanitarian aid and biofuels
At the invitation of UNIDO Ukraine (the United Nations specialized agency for innovation and industrial development), Truskavets Mayor Andriy Kulchynskyi visited the cities of Germany and Switzerland as part of a training course. The tour and related expenses were funded by the host city. In addition to Truskavets, several other Ukrainian communities were represented: Kalush, Lutsk, Bar, Chortkiv, and Ovruch. The main focus of UNIDO in Ukraine is to work with our communities, taking into account current realities, challenges and prospects.
The Ukrainian delegation was received with great friendliness and open hearts. Moving to different cities, one could see the Ukrainian flag next to the German flag near the municipalities. One could feel the special attitude toward Ukrainians that Germans demonstrate everywhere, because they are truly in solidarity with Ukraine and are rooting for our development and are also interested in a mutually beneficial partnership.
According to Andriy Kulchynsky, by strengthening cooperation with UNIDO in partnership with European municipalities, we can get help for the development of various industries. For example, to develop a fairly new area – telemedicine. This is an opportunity to provide decent diagnostics to residents of remote villages in the Truskavets community, who often do not have the opportunity to get a consultation with a specialist in time.
The development of telemedicine requires special software, additional communication devices and modern diagnostic equipment, such as remote blood pressure and temperature measurement, cardiogram recording, which are included in the telemedicine package and cannot be compared to a telephone consultation. In the future, this is an opportunity for everyone to consult with leading specialists not only in Ukraine but also in the world.
Valuable Swiss experience in biogas production through waste utilization was learned from the example of Renergon, which was visited by the Ukrainian delegation in Tegervilen. Here, they not only learned about the phased production, but also received calculations for plants of different capacities and during implementation in different conditions. The Truskavets community has the potential to convert biogenic waste (grass, leaves, organic matter) into energy. This can be a solution to a difficult problem for our community – the seasonal burning of dead wood, which kills entire ecosystems, negatively affects health and can take human lives. This can be avoided with the introduction of organic waste recycling. In the future, this will become an investment-friendly business.
As for the humanitarian sector, Truskavets is already looking for partners on the Cities4Citie platform. This project was presented at the Sindelfingen City Council. It was created to meet the requests for assistance and needs of Ukrainian cities through the capabilities and proposals of other European cities and regions. The challenges of the war are serious, and for Truskavets, as a rear city, the main task is to help the civilian population affected by the Russian military operations. There are more than 13 thousand internally displaced persons in Truskavets. Using this platform, they can get support in these difficult times to ensure the preservation of local infrastructure.
Obviously, the successful implementation of the tasks and fruitful cooperation will open up prospects for new opportunities. Truskavets’ participation in UNIDO projects does not end there, as the next step will be participation in a scientific and practical conference in Lviv at the end of March.
Our sincere gratitude to the entire UNIDO team for helping Ukraine and supporting Ukrainians around the world. Special thanks to Mykhailo Gamaliy, Senior Regional Development Expert at UNIDO’s Directorate for Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Industrial Development, for his support and personal contribution to Ukraine’s development.