The comprehensive advisory training programme “Monitoring and Evaluation of the Municipal Development Strategy and the Action Plan for Its Implementation” aimed to help municipalities introduce sustainable practices for assessing the implementation of strategic documents, teach them how to use automated systems, generate reports and streamline management processes.
Selected municipalities represented a number of regions, including Cherkasy, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi, Kyiv, Kirovohrad and Zhytomyr Oblasts. Many of them tried monitoring and assessment for the first time.
Hryhorii Pererva, the Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in Kyiv Oblast and a member of the Working Group on Strategic Planning:
‘We are aware that many municipalities have the strategy approved as a document — but its implementation is not monitored. However, development means ongoing work with priorities, indicators and data. If you want to manage development rather than respond to problems, you need monitoring tools. That is why we’ve adapted the existing assessment system to the capabilities of local self-government, provided municipalities with support, guidance, templates and clarifications. And we’re seeing the results.’
The programme participants mastered the automated monitoring system (developed by the UNDP), which enables analysing the progress of task implementation, tracking funding, compiling reports and seeing the big picture for each development area.
For many municipalities, this experience was a revelation. For the first time, they approached the strategy as a tool that should be effective and constantly updated rather than a mere formality.
Viktoriia Ostrohlazova, the Head of the Forecasting and Municipal Development Department of Zolotonosha City Council, Cherkasy Oblast:
"As part of the comprehensive advisory programme, in addition to tracking the progress of our strategy implementation, we were able to objectively see the changes we needed. Some activities were no longer relevant, so we removed them and updated priorities instead. We saw where we were indeed making progress, and where we were still at the planning stage. No longer a mere formality, our report is now a real tool for members of the city council and heads of departments. When we presented the results, the members of the city council were very excited and eager to know what the next steps. This was not the case before. Now, each senior official sees his\her own area of responsibility and understands how the strategy works. More importantly, the system measures the outcomes itself. We enter data and see what needs to be strengthened. We plan to continue ongoing monitoring."
Iryna Drahomeretska, the Head of Economic Development and Investment Department of Yarmolyntsi municipality, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, also spoke about the use of the monitoring tool. According to her, the municipal team intentionally applied for the programme in order to make the Development Strategy an effective management tool rather than a perfunctory document:
"In addition to implementing strategic goals, we wanted to learn to qualitatively monitor their implementation. The programme has provided us with a monitoring tool that we now use all the time. Every six months, we assess the implementation of the action plan and update the document based on the results. For example, we saw that new challenges related to digitalisation, accessibility and new projects should be planned for. The strategy that we devised with the support of U-LEAD encompasses the period until 2027. We are grateful for this practical tool, since all U-LEAD’s comprehensive advisory programmes really meet the urgent needs of municipalities."
Summarising the outcomes of the comprehensive advisory programme, Nataliia Onyshchuk, the Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Ternopil Oblast and a member of the Working Group on Strategic Planning, noted:
"Monitoring results is not just figures or tables. These are a real tool for making informed governance decisions in a municipality: updating the development strategy (which is actively underway in many municipalities with the support of U-LEAD), preparing an annual report of the municipality head, as well as informed communication with donors or government agencies regarding the feasibility of upcoming projects. This is also the basis for creating information dashboards, introducing GIS solutions and prioritising public investments. Monitoring is an integral part of effective municipal governance and development planning."
Further, according to Nataliia Onyshchuk, U-LEAD will continue to support the strategic development of municipalities. The Programme’s experts firmly believe that systematic monitoring and assessment do not just mean reporting. They are key to trust, efficiency and sustainable development of municipalities in times of uncertainty and challenges.
