According to the State Statistics Service, 42% of Ukrainian municipalities are rural, and another 30% are urban. And according to the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (State GeoCadastre), 70% of the entire Ukrainian land is agricultural land. This is the statistics voiced at the info session “Legal Framework and International Standards of Rural Development. Why Should Local Authorities Support Rural Development?” held by U-LEAD with Europe. With this in mind, developing Ukrainian rural areas means developing Ukrainian municipalities.
Ukraine and the EU mean two different things by “rural development”
“Today, our task is to generate ideas that will allow for harmonising our laws with the EU legislation. We have to understand that rural development in Ukraine and in the EU means somewhat different concepts and practices,” said Anatolii Parkhomiuk, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Volyn Oblast.
Digging deeper into rural development, you need to understand that the concepts of rural development and the development of rural areas are not identical. According to Andrii Pohorilyi, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government at the same Regional Office, the concept of rural development is broader and includes the economic, social and environmental development of rural areas.
The powers of local self-government related to rural development include economic powers (management of municipal property and land resources), social powers (social protection of the population, education, health care, culture and youth policy) and environmental powers (environment protection, solid waste management and landscaping). Ukraine’s legislation lacks explicit definitions of what rural development is. However, several concepts for the development of rural areas were adopted in the past, one of which is still valid today. It also contains references to a number of powers vested in the local self-government regarding the development of rural areas. In general, rural development is the basis of sustainable municipal development.
In contrast, in the meaning of the EU legislation, the concept of rural development is defined by the EU Common Agricultural Policy, which is binding on all member states. In practice, the CAP consists of two components: support for market activities and actual rural development.
The CAP’s overarching priorities:
- Fostering agricultural competitiveness;
- Ensuring sustainable management of natural resources and climate action;
- Achieving balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities, including the creation and maintenance of employment.
Rural development in the meaning of the EU legislation includes three directions: agriculture, forestry and rural social policy.
“The CAP and all its tools will be available to Ukraine in the future, because we are moving towards the EU. And the policies that are in effect in the EU will also apply to us. Given the challenges that currently exist in the European Union, we must also take this into account and understand how to apply these policies,” said Anatolii Parkhomiuk.
What is the effect of supporting rural development in municipalities?
Ukraine is not the only country that raises these questions. After all, understanding the result incites and really accelerates specific actions. In general, experts find it difficult to accurately measure the effect of the implementation of rural development policies. However, the experience of EU countries, according to the summary of the research of the World Bank, IFAD and OECD, proves that the implementation of rural development projects has had the following effects:
- Rural GDP growth by 5–15%;
- 1 project creates an average of 2.5 jobs;
- Reduction of poverty by 10–20%;
- 20% increase in access to health care services in remote localities.
Indeed, the effects of rural development projects can be seen in at least three directions, says Dmytro Vasylenko, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast.
Economic effect:
- Increasing productivity and food security;
- Diversification of the local economy through the development of agricultural tourism, renewable energy and other activities in villages;
- Creation of new jobs and improvement of living conditions among rural populations;
- Increasing the tax revenues for local authorities.
Social effect:
- Improving the quality of life in rural areas through better access to education, healthcare and cultural amenities;
- Reduction of migration from the village to the city and brain drain;
- Strengthening the sense of community and social cohesion.
Environmental effect:
- Sustainable management of land resources, which protects natural resources;
- Reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Ensuring systematic rural development requires three factors: attraction and catalysing change, access to markets and strengthening of human capacity. And without an active consolidating role of local self-government, these components will not work smoothly or most efficiently,” said Dmytro Vasylenko.
He believes that the role of local self-government in supporting rural development is stimulating governance. While the central government acts as a catalyst and driver of change, concrete action must be taken at the local level by many actors.