March 23, 2016, the project “BELIEVE” held the first workshop for the representatives of six regions of Ukraine.
The project “BELIEVE” is supported by the Dutch Government programme Matra and aims to develop community capacity to participate in the implementation and monitoring of the reform process in agriculture, land management and rural development.
The seminar was held at the Ukrainian House and brought together representatives of state authorities, the embassy of the Netherlands, regional communities and NGOs to discuss the problems and prospects of the regional development.
The Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on European Integration Vladyslava Rutytska highlighted the importance of the role of communities in rural and regional development. She also spoke about the main objectives of the Strategy and Action Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development in Ukraine until 2020 and ways of its implementation. She urged regional governmental bodies and the public to support this initiative and become actively involved in the implementation.
Sergiy Pomazan, Senior Project Manager of GoLOCAL, told about the necessity for local agricultural brands development in Ukraine. In his speech, he presented the opportunities for promotion of local products through a local brand. He also shared the information on the international experience of branding and in Ukraine, and the benefits that the farms and local communities are acquiring once creating a consolidated own brand.
After the speeches of invited guests, the representatives of platforms have begun to discuss and analyse the development projects that have been proposed to be implemented on their territories.
We sincerely hope that the project will be able to spread to the whole territory of Ukraine, and each region will have the opportunity to create its own effective platform.
