4. 4. 2024 | Decentralisation, Economic development, local self-government, PR, Regional cooperation, Slovenian Development Assistance, U-LEAD: with Europe, Ukraine, Waste management
Več o aktivnostih v slovenskem jeziku najdete tukaj.
This sunny Thursday, the municipality of Idrija hosted the final event of the mentorship visit under the auspices of the project ‘Post-conflict reconstruction in Ukraine’.
The mentorship visit between Idrija and Pereschepinska focused on strengthening the heritage protection capacities of Pereschepinska hromada and the establishment of a waste management system in Pereschepinska and the sub-region. It took place from 20 March to 4 April 2024 and signals the end of the fourth mentorship visit between Slovenian and Ukrainian municipalities. Joining the mentorship in Idrija were Mr Iaroslav Tsvirkun, Mayor of Pereschepinska hromada and Ms Svitlana Bulava, Head of the Sector for Investments at Pereschepinska hromada. They were mentored by the municipality of Idrija mentor, Ms Lenka Grošelj and Mr Matevž Straus, Director of ID20 Institute.
Opening the Thursday final event at the castle Gewerkenegg in Idrija was Ms Jelka Klemenc, CEP Senior Advisor, who introduced the Slovenian Aid and Partnerships project and thanked both municipalities for the excellent work over the three weeks. Continuing was the Mayor of Idrija, Mr Tomaž Vencelj, who expressed strong support for the project and thanked the involved partners and experts, who aided the successful conclusion of the project. Mayor Vencelj also expressed the willingness for further cooperation between Idrija and Pereschepinska, signalling the openness for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Idrija and Pereschepinska, where additional possible fields of cooperation could be expressed.
Speaking on behalf of the Pereschepinska mentees was the Mayor, Mr Iaroslav Tsvirkun, who thanked the municipality of Idrija and its mentors for excellent support and warm welcome, adding that their shared knowledge and willingness to help was crucial for the preparation of the project drafts. He also thanked all involved organisations, the organising team at CEP and the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs for their support. Continuing on, he presented the three weeks of mentorship and the two project drafts that were prepared during the mentorship visit. The drafts presented are a strong basis for the future cooperation between Idrija and Pereschepinska, especially in terms of natural and cultural heritage protection.
In the first week, mentees from Pereschepinska focused on building upon their knowledge of project management, project writing, and project funding with the help of CEP expert, Mr Klemen Srna.
The second week focused on heritage protection and waste management. Idrija, known for its excellent heritage protection and preservation projects, prepared a rich programme for mentees. It included site visits and presentations from Idrija ID20 Institute, Institute Dobra pot, Idrija Youth Centre, Šturmajce farm, Idrija Geopark, and Idrija Mercury Heritage Management Centre. Here, mentees learned more about heritage protection projects, UNESCO, funding possibilities, cooperation between the municipality and NGOs in the region, and more. Discussions with the municipality and Idrijsko-Cerkljanska Regional Development Agency highlighted possible energy efficiency projects connected to waste management and heritage protection. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the conversations and site visits turned to waste management and environment protection, with presentations on the Slovenian waste management system by CEP. Following was an important site visit to the Utility Company Idrija, where Idrija’s waste management system was presented in practice. On Wednesday, mentors and mentees visited RCERO Waste Management Centre Ljubljana, the biggest environmental project in Slovenia supported by the Cohesion Fund. It is the most modern facility for waste treatment in Europe and processes waste from more than a third of Slovenia.
The third week focused on the preparation of a project concept for the development of a heritage protection projects and waste management system in Pereschepinska municipality. Mentees were aided by CEP expert, Ms Slavka Zupan and Mr Matevž Straus and prepared a well-elaborated concept.
The mentorship concluded today with an internal debrief between CEP, mentors, and mentees, followed by a the closing event and the presentation of the mentorship results and projects drafts prepared during the mentorship visit. The plans will be elaborated and finalized during the project until its end in 2024, while initial activities have already begun during the mentorship visit in Idrija.
The Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs representative, Ms Mateja Urbanija, Ms Natalia Markevych Pritsa from the Embassy of Ukraine to Slovenia, Mr Lovro Klinar from the European Commission Representation in Slovenia. Media representatives, and representatives of organisations in Idrija involved in the activities joined the closing event.
The ‘Post-conflict reconstruction in Ukraine’ project is funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs through the Slovenian Aid and Partnerships and implemented in partnership with ‘U-LEAD with Europe’. U-LEAD with Europe programme is a partnership of the Ukrainian government and the European Union, and its member states Germany, Poland, Denmark and Slovenia, to support the establishment of multi-level governance that is transparent, accountable and responsive to the needs of the population of Ukraine.
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.
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.
