The delegation paid a study visit to the municipalities of Novovolynsk, Ustyluh and Prylisne where they reviewed the best practices in the development of entrepreneurship in rural areas, attraction of new business and implementation of joint social projects.
“We at U-LEAD with Europe continue to renew experience exchange visits, which used to be arranged regularly in the past. Their main purpose is to share best practices that can be shared and implemented. Exchanging experiences is very important for the further development of municipalities and the recovery of Ukraine,” said Anatolii Parkhomiuk, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Volyn Oblast.
The guests spent the first day of the visit in the Novovolynsk municipality, whose representatives gladly shared their achievements and tools for cooperation with the business community. The head of the municipality, Borys Karpus, presented the municipality’s comprehensive approach to the development of local businesses, which includes the attraction of relocated businesses, assistance in obtaining grants for entrepreneurs and the creation of industrial parks.
A modern industrial park, NOVO, is being built in Novovolynsk. Its creation is the result of close cooperation between the business community and the municipality. The visitors were told the history of its creation and were shown the location of the future premises that will be available for the companies engaged in processing storage, freezing and transportation of agricultural goods.
The municipality works hard to invite relocated businesses. One successful case is a business that moved to Novovolynsk from Mariupol and successfully integrated into the city. The company recycles PET bottles and develops a culture of solid household waste management in the Novovolynsk municipality. The delegation also visited the Gifts of Volyn farm, a great example of the municipality’s successful use of the tool for attracting grant funds to businesses.
“We in the municipality of Rava-Ruska are currently developing cooperation with the business community and plan to create an industrial park. During the visit to the municipalities of the Volyn Oblast, in particular Novovolynsk, we were able to see the process of creating an industrial park and inviting potential investors in detail, and after studying their experience, to work out some solutions for ourselves. Study visits like that are highly needed and important. Communication with colleagues who already have experience in a certain field allows us to avoid certain problems and overcome difficulties more easily. This trip gave me a vision of the further development of cooperation with potential investors and the municipality in general,” said Mykhailo Zalutskyi, Deputy Head of the Rava-Ruska municipality, Lviv Oblast.
The municipality of Prylisne ensures the effective use of its land plots and premises. The delegation saw it for themselves when visiting a number of companies such as the municipal companies Volyn Natural Resources and Volyn Peat; Horodok Forestry, a branch of the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine; and BIO BERRY LLC. Company managers talked about their activities and shared practical cases of cooperation based on the “municipality-business” formula.
Using the case of Volyn Natural Resources, the participants saw how important the interaction of different levels of local self-government is for the development of mineral extraction. The representatives of municipalities visited the company’s facilities and talked with its management.
The berry cluster is also actively developing in the municipality, as clearly evidenced by BIO BERRY. The delegation visited one of the company locations in the village of Karasyn.
Horodok Forestry, a branch of the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine, has established cooperation with the Prylisne municipality regarding the maintenance of forest roads and the development of village infrastructure. A separate direction of development for the municipality and the company to cooperate on is student forestry. Foresters contribute to extracurricular activities in secondary schools.
The third day of the study visit focused on the Ustyluh municipality. The local senior officials gladly shared a practical case study on the development of entrepreneurship and self-employment in rural areas with their colleagues, highlighted effective tools for stimulating small agriproducers in the municipality and talked about social projects implemented thanks to coordinated cooperation with local businesses.
The delegation visited local businesses and farms. The first location visited by the participants of the visit is a separate division of Lutsk Agrarian Company Ltd. The company produces its own compound feed using modern equipment, grows poultry at 11 locations in 100 poultry houses and is one of the five largest chicken producers in Ukraine.
In the village of Pyatydni, the representatives of municipalities learned about the work of Pyatydni LLC, one of the largest agriproducers of the Volyn Oblast that actively cooperates with the Ustyluh municipality in social projects. The company’s management shared the results of cooperation and plans for the future.
The delegation also visited the Stara Khata farm. It is no exaggeration to name it among the successful cases of small business development in the municipality. The owners of the farm created a dairy farm basically from scratch; they engage in animal husbandry, improve pastures and develop infrastructure. The farmers plan to later open their own cheese factory and create conditions for “green” tourism services in Rogozhany, the village where they are based.
“Study visits are essential for us, especially now when there are few such experience exchange events. Trips like that allow us to see first-hand the successful practices of local self-government bodies and to study their experience. Based on a number of cases, we were able to observe how municipalities develop cooperation with the business community and implement joint projects. We managed to see many successful examples of agricultural development, which is relevant for us, although on a somewhat smaller scale. The experience and format of cooperation between the municipalities and farms of the Volyn oblast are very useful for us. Visits like that are important not only for heads of municipalities, but also for employees of certain structural subdivisions, who can study the best practices of their colleagues,” said Mykhailo Kalynych, Head of the Horinchiv municipality, Zakarpattia Oblast.
The representatives of municipalities also visited the museum of the composer Igor Stravinsky, where they discussed the results of the study trip, shared their impressions, talked about the experiences of their municipalities and discussed plans for the future.