Our Bridges of Trust initiative has been working for the benefit of communities for more than a year, and it is constantly developing. During the full-scale war, we expanded our cooperation with communities in Italy and other European countries, and today we will talk about these achievements in particular.
Among these developments, various initiatives, including the Bridges of Trust (BoT), have emerged to support these objectives. BoT, in particular, has facilitated connections between Ukrainian municipalities and their European counterparts, fostering an environment where sharing governance practices and working on joint development projects is a common goal.
In March 2022, the Bridges of Trust initiative received a substantial boost, by shifting the focus on municipal partnerships. It's now all about cities in the EU and Ukraine directly collaborating. By the end of the year, over 163 communities from seventeen EU countries joined the initiative and began to work with Ukrainian cities. This is the result of the groundwork laid by U-LEAD and support from institutions like the European Council of Municipalities and Regions and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
By December 2022, eight cities in Italy were ready to join in the initiative. They had been meeting online with cities in Ukraine to plan joint projects of common interest. The aim was to pair cities of similar size or with comparable challenges and goals.
Take, for example, Pollina, a small town in Sicily. It was one of the first Italian cities to join Bridges of Trust. They paired up with Synevyr in Ukraine because they both share similar natural beauty and values.
As the year progressed, more Italian cities established links with Ukrainian counterparts. They all had ideas for projects they were eager to start as soon as they could. Places like Buscate and Merefa, or Arconate and Pervomais’k, were all setting up these new friendships and plans.
In early 2023, as discussions continued more partnerships were formed. Cities near Milan like Inveruno and Cinisello Balsamo got involved too. By March, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions provided additional support to some of these partnerships, particularly to three cities in Lombardy and their Ukrainian partners.
There are 44 international partnerships of UA municipalities with Italian municipalities as of January 2024.
Through these growing relationships, the Bridges of Trust initiative demonstrates how collaborative efforts can foster hope and facilitate meaningful change, even in challenging times.
Growing Partnerships and Practical Progress
The Bridges of Trust initiative entered a new phase with the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) and the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) joining forces. Their role? To ensure that Ukrainian and Italian cities could communicate effectively, find funding, and share all sorts of helpful information. They also arranged visits for Ukrainian city teams to foster mutual learning and gain practical insights in Italian municipalities.
One such trip happened in June, right in the heart of Lombardy. A group from Ukraine spent a whole week there, learning how local Italian communities handle everything from industrial parks to launching and promoting small businesses. They didn't just observe; they participated in workshops on various topics in cities like Arconate and Sesto San Giovanni, via peer-to-peer learning on waste management, public building renewal, urban regeneration.
Then came the Solidarity Forum in July – a significant milestone. It was the first time all the city pairs convened to solidify their plans and funding strategies. Thanks to this and the ongoing teamwork, even more Italian places like the Alto Milanese Consortium and the Province of Palermo got excited about the initiative.
As the summer of 2023 rolled by, more and more Italian groups and Ukrainian cities began discussing potential collaborations. It created a snowball effect — the more people heard about it, the more they wanted to be part of it.
By August 2023, Sesto San Giovanni and Lozova were already making plans to improve Lozova’s waste management, aiming to meet the high standards set by the EU. They had everything sorted out so well that they went to Brussels to share their strategy at the Bridges of Trust's big yearly gathering.
The next day marked another significant moment at the European Parliament. There, the two mayors pledged to each other and everyone else: they were committed to work together on improving the waste systems and helping rebuild after the war.
Mayor Zelenskiy from Lozova commented on this matter:
"We've got plans with Sesto San Giovanni that'll turn into real, solid work once we've got peace again."
And Mayor Di Stefano from Sesto added:
"We've learned a lot about handling waste and rebuilding cities. We're more than ready to share that with our friends in Ukraine, hoping for peace soon."
Meanwhile, not too far away, the mayor of Inveruno was shaking hands on a deal with the mayor of Romny. That's another pair of cities getting ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work together.
This is what Bridges of Trust is all about—cities across borders reaching out, sharing what they know, and and collaboratively working towards the greater good for everyone involved.
