On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation started its brutal aggression against Ukraine. As well as tragic loss of life and injuries, this aggression has caused widespread damage and destruction of civil infrastructure across the country, and especially in frontline and de-occupied areas.
While some civil infrastructure has national or regional importance (e.g. airports, highways, universities, power stations), most fall within local self-government competences (schools, clinics, roads, distribution networks, etc.) and affects the ability to deliver local public services not only to its citizens but also to internally displaced persons.
Based on the experience of EU funded Project Preparation Facilities in the Western Balkans and capacity building support in Ukraine, U-LEAD designed and launched a Municipal Project Preparation Facility (PPF) to support municipalities with the preparation of technical project documentation. But PPF is more than a technical instrument to prepare projects—it's a promise of a resilient future.
Imagine your local school, where children laugh and learn, or the bridge you cross every day, is now in ruins. This is where the PPF steps in to support municipalities to restore the heart of municipalities, ensuring that schools, clinics, and roads can once again serve their vital purposes.
With the capabilities of certified experts—design engineers, architects, and procurement specialists—the PPF targets support to the smaller municipalities, those with populations under 50,000.
The PPF process began with calls for applications, an opportunity for municipalities to identify their reconstruction priorities. This resulted in over 100 municipalities submitting their project ideas through Project Identification Forms. These Project Identification Forms are not just papers; they represent the first step in the PPF path to ensure projects are technically prepared to meet the needs of local communities. The PPF team carefully checks each project with a list of clear and practical criteria:
- Right sector, right budget: Every project needs to fit into critical public service sectors such as education, healthcare, or transportation within a feasible budget range of between EUR 0.3 million to EUR 10 million.
- Purpose and improvement: Every project requires a clear goal – to help the municipality recover and become a better place for years to come.
- Fitting the bigger picture: Each project must line up with the larger recovery plans of the country, making sure that what is done locally helps all move forward together.
- Following the rules: It's important that every project can be implemented properly, meeting regulations, and using the right methods to ensure sustainable local recovery.
- Ready to go: It’s important to make sure that municipal teams in charge have what it takes to work with the PPF and implement ready projects.
Thanks to the partnership between U-LEAD and the dedication of local city leaders, 25 projects were selected from applications to be prepared in full technical detail for available financing. The 25 projects, with a total estimated implementation budget of over EUR 60m, will impact the lives of up to half a million municipal residents in eleven regions.
So, what is the PPF? It's a municipality's partner in planning a future where children can safely play in their schoolyards again, where clean water can be accessed and where roads reconnect lives. It's about building a tomorrow.
Why the PPF? The technical preparation of local reconstruction and recovery projects is resource demanding, particularly for smaller municipalities, to meet all technical and procedural requirements for available financing. The PPF provides the qualified expertise to work with municipalities and to make sure projects are ready.
Recovery is not easy. Ukrainian towns and cities have lost many people who could be working in their municipalities and preparing these projects because they had to move away or were called to serve in the army.
PPF is not about repairing but "Building back better’’ sustainably and over the long term. This is why selected projects are firmly positioned within local recovery and development strategies. Every project must fit well with the town's own vision for the future but follow all the necessary procedures including key issues such as ownership of land, permits and planning approvals.
But what is the value of the PPF? Without technically prepared projects, municipalities cannot implement their recovery strategies and benefit from available funding. While the PPF is a technical instrument to support municipalities with projects, ultimately the real added value is helping municipalities to prepare for a better future.
