The USAID Local Economic Development (LED) project, in negotiations with the project’s fourth wave of cities, has finalized a schedule for signing Letters of Intent between the LED project and the cities’ Radas.
The Letters of Intent will be signed with the Luhansk Oblast cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne on April 4, 5 and 6, respectively, and with Sumy and Konotop, Sumy Oblast, on April 12 and 13, respectively. The signing in Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, will most probably be on April 19, and in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, on April 24, 2007.
Earlier, the project signed such letters with Pervomaysk, Mykolaiv Oblast, on March 23, and Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast, on March 27, 2007.
Except Lysychansk and Rubizhne, all of the above municipalities are target cities of the project. In these cities, LED project advisors will guide, facilitate and follow closely the strategic planning process, both operating from Kyiv and coming to the cities to attend meetings of Expert Committees, formed there to hammer out an economic development strategy.
In the fourth wave, the project will also provide technical assistance to a group of cities it calls “non-target.” Representatives from the non-target cities will attend Expert Committee meetings in nearby target cities to learn the procedure and replicate it in their cities in a few days. The role of advisors there will be performed by local consultants hired by the project. These consultants assisted LED advisors to carry out strategic planning in earlier waves of cities, so they know well the approach used by the project. When necessary, local consultants and local government officers from non-target cities will be able to consult LED advisors by phone or email.
It is expected that Letters of Intent with most of the non-target cities will be signed on April 17, 2007, at a round table being organized by the project for mayors from the non-target cities. Besides Lysychansk and Rubizhne these include Kremenets, Ternopil Oblast; Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast; Mohyliv-Podilsky, Vinnytsya Oblast; Irpin, Vyshneve and Obukhiv, Kyiv Oblast; Koryukivka, Chernihiv Oblast; and Tsyuryupinsk and Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast.
The Letter of Intent testifies to the parties’ commitment to collaborate on the development and implementation of an economic development strategy for a signatory city, and outlines the scope and conditions of the collaboration. The letter signing is a requirement for USAID to begin providing technical assistance to a city through the LED project.