UNDP in Ukraine

The new Country Director Ricarda Rieger visited Rivne to see the UNDP-led projects in the region and meet with local authorities to discuss further cooperation prospects.

Working visit highlights
Energy and еnvironment

On 26 August Rieger had a working meeting with Rivne city mayor Volodymyr Khomko where they discussed the results and future propsects of UNDP-led project "Removing barriers to greenhouse gas emissions mitigation through energy efficiency in the district heating system". The Project has been active in Rivne since 2003.

In Rivne, UNDP made a major contribution to promoting energy efficiency at the local level. We provided continuous support to the Energy Service Company (ESCO), created with UNDP assistance in Rivne in late 2003, to design, finance and implement energy efficiency projects.

ESCO is a world-known company model that offers a broad range of services including financial and procurement services for energy saving projects. Usually all the energy saving measures are provided at no cost to the client and ESCO recovers its investments based on the energy and cost savings achieved.

As a result, Rivne's own ESCO made significant progress in reforming the city's energy sector.

Moreover, utilizing a USD 5,3 million-grant from Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP project helped the city install the Combined Heat-and-Power Plant which replaced 11 outdated inefficient boilers. The new modern boiler plants were installed at the Central Municipal Hospital, Regional Maternity House and Humanitarian Gymnasium Complex. In addition, the Project is introducing biomass technology at a number of municipal boilers.

All this resulted in enhanced quality of life for about 300,000 people and reduced energy bills for end-users serviced by ESCO-Rivne company. Overall, these actions led to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and secured savings of 6,000 tce a year. Moreover, energy saving has been identified as a priority both by the municipality and by the district heating company.

Local authorities are willing to proceed with reforming the energy sector to facilitate ESCO-Rivne operations and increase the confidence of private investors. For example, they guarantee full cash payment of heat bills from the state-owned institutions, make full payment of existing residential subsidies to the heat supplier, and fix the tariffs over the investment amortization period.

Local development
Municipal governance

Volodymyr Khomko, Mayor of Rivne, briefed Ricarda Rieger on results achieved in partnership with UNDP-led Municipal Governance and Sustainable Development Programme. Rivne municipality is one of the Project's 26 partner municipalities. Since the beginning of partnership in 2004, Rivne implemented 10 local community projects and internalised community-based approach by adopting appropriate municipal programme in 2009.

The value of implemented projects in Rivne reached UAH 1.4 mn., including UAH 719,200 (50.83%) contributed by the city council, UAH 169,900 (12.01%) - by NO/Network, UAH 452,600 (31.99%) - by UNDP and UAH 73,300 (5.18%) - by third parties.

Owing to Municipal Support Unit in Rivne, 34 community based organisations were established, uniting almost 10,000 members. Also, local schools established 73 Public organisations and majority of them were joined in a school network.

Community development
Another important UNDP-led initiative in the region is co-financed by the European Union - the "Community Based Approach to Local Development Project". In the framework of her visit to the region, Rieger met with the Regional leaders - the Head of Regional State Administration Viktor Matchuk.

"The project helps in overcoming one of the main problems for local development in Ukraine - it helps get rid of indifference among the local communities and it urges them to take action, take on full responsibility and be in charge of their own lives," Matchuck said, speaking during the official meeting.

On behalf of UNDP Ukraine, its Country Director appreciated the commitment and effort of the regional authorities to enhancing quality of communal infrastructures and public services through active involvement of local communities and local governments.

Rieger stressed that such support has been considered by UNDP management as "very important for strengthening the overall democratic process and sustainable human development in Ukraine".

"It is particularly pleasant to observe such a high level of cooperation between the local authorities and communities. CBA project is just a catalyst that unfolded a huge potential and enthusiasm of local communities," Riger said.

UNDP Country Director also participated in the Regional Coordination Council Meeting of the joint EU-UNDP CBA Project. Chaired by local authorities, this forum was held with an aim to review the Project's progress and make necessary decisions to facilitate realization of local communities' initiatives.

During this meeting, the Deputy Head of Regional administration Stepan Pavliuk summarized almost 2 years of cooperation with CBA Project, and pointed out the effect that a mobilized community produces at local level. In addition, eight pilot districts of CBA presented their first results. Specifically these included: 30 community micro-projects (out of 40 planned) are already prepared, 22 of them approved. It turns out that the top priority problems for Rivne region communities is energy saving in local schools, kindergartens and local health posts (17 projects), and improvement of healthcare service provision (5 projects). Average cost of these initiatives amounts to UAH 145,000.

Rieger also visited one of the Project's community organizations "Leleka" in Voskodavy village (Goshcha district) [See Community members on the picture].

The community joined CBA Project in August 2008, and within one year they created and registered an organization, participated in a series of trainings for community activists, discussed and approved the Community Development Plan. According to local citizens, the most burning problem for them was the unsatisfactory condition of their local health post.

The Head of community organization Olga Yushchuk explains: "Our local health post was in the emergency condition, as the whole building had to be repaired. There was no water supply, no sewerage system and no heating, so in the cold season patients could not even take off their clothes. Nowadays many babies are born in our village, and they need medical care. Same concerns our village's elderly people. This is why the repair of local health post was definitely a priority number one for our village".

"I am very impressed to see how an organized community can improve its living conditions whenever it is organized and works together with local authorities. There is a general perception that many villages in Ukraine are ‘dying out' and people move out of them. But whenever there is a medical institution and a school in the village, it is a very good sign for the future of this community," said Rieger.

Working with 166 countries, UNDP encourages the exchange of knowledge and best practices between countries, but also within countries. In Rieger's opinion, the experience of such organized and efficient cooperation is definitely worth sharing.

The Leleka community activists prepared a project proposal for repair of the medical institution and purchase of new equipment. The project was approved in March 2009, and with the first money that the CO received, 6 windows were replaced, 6 doors and 1 entrance door was purchased. It is planned that the works will be finished by October 2009.

For more information: Galyna Gulenko, Monitoring and Communications Officer of UNDP/MGSDP, by tel. (+8044) 5014203 or via e-mail: galyna.gulenko at undp.org.ua; Natalia Olshanska, in Rivne, (+380 362) 261889; Ganna Yatsyuk, CBA Project Communications/Monitoring Specialist at tel: (+380 44) 208-3618, E-mail: ganna.yatsyuk@undp.org.ua.

Editor's Note:
ESCO (Energy Service Company) uses an efficient way to provide for systematic energy efficiency activities as it is essentially an engineering company oriented for operation with numerous clients of various types, possesses necessary expertise for project preparation and implementation, is quick and flexible in making decisions about project financing, and is intrinsically interested in multiplying energy efficiency activities through expansion of its customer pool.

ESCO suggests win-win solutions for its clients as it reduces transaction costs offering a whole "package" of services to implement a turn-key project and guarantees energy saving to the client. For example, if a school's monthly expenditures on energy services average USD 100 and the audit conducted by ESCO shows that they could be brought down to USD 80, an agreement with the school could be concluded whereby the ESCO will implement all the energy efficiency measures at no cost for the school but the client will continue paying USD 100 for the next 6-8 months (to allow the company recover its investments and make some profit).