The annual final conference and award ceremony of the Contest “Best Practices in Local Government” in 2017 took place in Kyiv on 30 November 2017. The event was organised by the Ministry of Regional Development in co-operation with the Council of Europe Programme “Decentralisation and Territorial Consolidation in Ukraine”.

As a result of the Contest – 2017 29 finalist practices of local authorities of all levels were selected in three themes “Transparency and accountability in local government”, “Practices to promote development at regional and local level based on own strategies and resources”,
“Inter-municipal co-operation”. The finalists were welcomed by Vice-Prime-Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Municipal Economy Hennadii ZUBKO, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Olena LYTVYNENKO and Senior Advisor of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Ukraine Christian DISLER. The award ceremony was led by First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Head of the Selection Panel Viacheslav NEHODA. They all admitted that in the local government reform process the best practices are inspiration and are to be show cased, celebrated and disseminated in Ukraine and beyond its borders. According to Novoukrainka City Mayor (Kirovohrad region) Oleksandr KORINNYI, finalist in the category “Transparency and accountability in local government” (II place) admitted “Contest “Best Practices in Local Government” is a pool of readymade and free solutions”.

The best practices awarded within the Contest – 2017 in Ukraine were implemented in a wide range of spheres: e-governance, ecology, education, medical care, service delivery and others.

It is planned that representatives of local authorities-Contest finalists shall take part in study and peer visits, press tours. In addition, their achievements will be disseminated through specialized TV programmes, websites of the Contest organisers and printed manual.

Note:
The Contest “Best Practices in Local Government” in 2017 is the all-Ukrainian contest organised for the sixth time already. In 2012-2013 it was implemented by the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform. Since 2014 the Ministry of Regional Development has been the main organiser of the Contest in Ukraine.

To see the photo gallery of the event click here.