12. 11. 2019 | Decentralisation, Economic development, local self-government, PR, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe
The weather in Slovenia might not be the best these days, but our disposition sure is sunny, as Centre for European Perspective is again hosting International Study Visit within the U-LEAD programme. The event began on Tuesday, 12th of November and will continue throughout the week.
The topic of the visit is “Cooperation between Business and Local Communities”.
There are currently 19 local officials from Ukraine taking part in the study visit with the vast majority being heads of amalgamated hromadas.
The study visit began with a welcome speech by Ms Katja Geršak, Executive Director of CEP who warmly welcomed the participants and presented CEP team and the work of CEP in the U-LEAD project. She was followed by Ms Berta Mrak, the Head of the Department for Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia and the Arctic at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia, who welcomed the group from Ukraine and gave an insight into work the Ministry does with Ukraine, bilateral relations between countries and the high-level visit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia that occured last week in Kiev. She was followed Mr Andrii Borodenkov, First Secretary from the Embassy of Ukraine in Ljubljana, who expressed his pleasure at being able to greet the study group from Ukraine on a U-LEAD study visit to Slovenia. He shared a few examples of the work the Embassy does, spoke about especially about the cultural cooperation of the countries and examples of Slovenian and Ukrainian economic cooperation.
After a short warm-up session and introduction of participants held by Ms Meliha Muherina, Project Manager at CEP, the theoretical part of the visit begun.
First lecture of the day was given by Mr Gorazd Orešek, from SPIRIT Slovenia – Public Agency for Entrepreneurship, Internationalization, Foreign Investments and Technology, who spoke about SME support in Slovenia, attracting investments to the local environment and establishing conditions conducive for entrepreneurship in a local community, especially when speaking about industrial zones.
The following lecture was given by Ms Nina Seljak, from the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, who spoke about the results and good practices from cross-border projects Slovenia is involved in and how this practices could be transferred to Ukrainan local communities, when speaking about cross-border connections and projects.
The last speaker of the day was Ms Larisa Vodeb, who focused on the work of Chamber of Craft & Small Business of Slovenia and Enterprise Europe Network.
With the theoretical part done, we will move to ‘the field’ in the following days.
On Wednesday, the participants will visit the Municipality of Tolmin, where they will hear more about the development of the municipality, the influence large events and music festivals have on local community and historical ties between Slovenia and Ukraine. The historical ties will alse be explored with a visit to Javorca memorial church and First World War Museum in Kobarid. They will also meet with the Mayor of Tolmin, Mr Brežan.
Thursday will offer a brief respite from driving as we stay in the municipality of Brda. On a visit to the Municipality, the participants will hear more about the development of the municipality, local projects and development of the cross-border cooperation in the region. The participants will also have the opportunity to visit the cooperative Klet Goriška Brda, where we will be a bit spoiled with a presentation of the work and a degustation. On Friday, participants make a trip across Vipavska dolina and towards Kras to the Škocjan Caves Park, where they will be met with the Director of the UNESCO protected nature park, Mr Stojan Ščuka. The visit to the Park will end with the visit to the Škocjan Cave and certificate ceremony.
The visit is taking place in the framework of the multi-donor action U-LEAD established by the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden. It aims at contributing to the establishment of multilevel governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine. U-LEAD with Europe is supporting the Ukrainian Government, represented by the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine (MinRegion) as a key political partner in the coordination and implementation of the decentralization and regional policy reforms. The Program carries out demand-driven and targeted trainings for officials at the national, regional and local level.
15. 9. 2018 | Decentralisation, local self-government, National communities, PR, Public administration, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe
Together with U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, CEP hosted an international study visit on social and economic development of communities with diverse ethnic population between the 10th and 14th of September. During the five day event, participants from Ukraine visited Slovene municipalities of Izola, Koper and Domžale, as well as Italian municipalities of Trst and Dolina.
On the first day of the study visit, seventeen representatives of local and regional authorities from Zakarpattya, Odesa and Chernivtsi oblast learned about the Slovene system of local self-government, regional development in Slovenia and got acquainted with Italian and Hungarian national communities and the Roma community in Slovenia.
Between the 11th and 12th of September, they visited bilingual municipalities of Koper and Izola, where they met with representatives of the Italian minority in Slovenia, Regional development centre Koper, as well as municipalities of Izola and Koper. They were interested in concrete examples of local development projects and also visited Škocjanski zatok, a great example of a revitalisation of a degraded industrial area into a natural reserve. On the 13th of September they travelled to Italy. Firstly, they met with the director of the Slovene Regional Economic Association in Trst and travelled to the business zone in the municipality of Dolina later that day. The last day of the study visit was spent in the municipality of Domžale, where the participants met with the mayor and learned about their examples of local development projects, such as their new bike park and recreational area by the Kamniška Bistrica river.
Ukrainian representatives gained valuable knowledge on the preparation and implementation of local and regional development projects and acquainted themselves with several good practices, which they will strive to apply in their local communities. They were also genuinely interested in establishing peer-to-peer cooperation with Slovene municipalities and organisations.
A similar international study visit will be organised at the end of this year.
The activities were financed by U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.
10. 9. 2018 | Decentralisation, local self-government, National communities, PR, U-LEAD: with Europe
CEP – Centre for European Perspective is currently hosting 17 representatives of different Ukrainian local and regional authorities. During the five day visit, the participants will get the chance to learn about local economic development, local self-government, Slovenia’s national communities and the co-existence in communities with diverse ethnic population.
17 participants from Zakarpattya, Odesa and Chernivtsi oblast have arrived on the 10th of September. During the first day of the event, they gained knowledge about the Slovenian system of local self-government, regional development and national minorities in Slovenia. The participants showed great interest in cooperation between municipalities, in Slovenia’s minorities, multi-ethnic municipalities and the bilingual school system in certain areas.
In the following days, the participants will visit the bilingual municipalities of Koper and Izola, as well as the municipality of Domžale. They will have a chance to hear first-hand experience from representatives of the Italian minority in Slovenia and representatives of the Slovenian minority in Italy. Furthermore, they will learn more about the local development projects of the regional development agency in Koper.
The activities are financed by U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.
9. 9. 2018 | Decentralisation, Economic development, local self-government, National communities, PR, Public administration
The Centre for European Perspective, together with U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden, is organizing an international study visit of representatives of Ukrainian local and regional authorities to Slovenia and Italy. The activities will take place in different Slovene and Italian municipalities in the Coastal-Karst region between September 10th and September 14th 2018. During the five day event, participants will exchange good practices in social and economic development of communities with diverse ethnic population.
17 representatives of different Ukrainian local and regional authorities, together with participants from U-LEAD with Europe and CEP, will learn about the Slovene system of local self-government, Italian and Hungarian national communities and the Roma community in Slovenia, the Slovene minority in Italy and will also get an insight into good practices of regional development. Participants of the event will be joined by experts and officials from the Ministry of Public Administration, the Office for National Minorities of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Italian Union – Office “Europa”, Regional Development Centre Koper, Slovene Regional Economic Association, as well as from the Italian municipality of Dolina and Slovene municipalities of Izola, Koper and Domžale.
Ukraine is currently implementing reforms of local and regional self-government. Their representatives will therefore address topics such as the preservation of minorities’ identities, cultural diversity, economic activities of minorities and others. The study visit aims to improve participants’ knowledge on preparation and implementation of local and regional development projects, as well as to initiate peer-to-peer cooperation with Ukrainian municipalities. A similar event will take place at the end of the year.
The activities are financed by U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member States Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.
