An employee of the Organisational and Information Department, Daria Patliak, represented Mykolaivka in two support programmes, “Designing roadmaps for Individual Tools to Improve the Business Environment of the Municipality” and “Creating a Project Office in the Municipality”. These training courses helped the municipality devise a route for implementing changes and build a team to manage these changes consistently.
Roadmaps for the private sector with local insights
During the training on improving the business environment, the team focused on the “ground beneath our feet”: what exactly entrepreneurs in their municipality need and how to implement it step by step.
Daria Patliak spotlights the most helpful moments:
“The training helped us understand what we should adapt… For example, communication with businesses or investors in the ‘coffee with the mayor’ format. This communication model is rather informal: entrepreneurs can come and voice their concerns. Without an appointment or advertising. This fosters trust, which is how cooperation is established.”
The “coffee with the mayor” format is already working in the municipality, albeit in a pilot mode — to collect feedback right away and turn it into solutions. At the same time, the team prepared a promotional video about the municipality to use at meetings and presentations when you need to briefly showcase the potential of the locality.
Another practical step is an investment website. Daria shares her plans in a straightforward and businesslike manner:
“We realised that it is critical to have a separate resource, an investment website. Further, it should at least have an English version, as well as, preferably, a German one, so that potential partners can easily learn about our municipality and the opportunities it offers.”
The team of the Mykolaivka rural municipality also created another promotional video with a clear emphasis on partnerships and seeking investors. This short video highlights the strengths of the municipality, its business potential and the people who drive change “in one shot.” The promotional video is already being used at meetings and presentations — to jump-start talks about cooperation.
Municipal project office: vision, documents, next steps
The second area that the training focused on was creating a project office in the municipality. After field visits to municipalities of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the team gained a clearer understanding of how this works in tandem with local authorities, including functions, teamwork, documents and decision-making process.
“As part of the training, we saw how project offices work in municipalities of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. We’ve got a very practical, tangible vision of how it all works. That is why we have already developed certain documents to get started. All that remains are the specifics — and then we will submit it for approval at the council meeting.”
The team speaks frankly about the challenges as well: a young office has a harder time attracting donors. The solution here is to seek partners.
“Donors might overlook a project office if it lacks experience. But this can be solved by cooperating with other municipalities or NGOs... We can be intermediaries and provide mutual assistance,” says Daria
U-LEAD’s mentorship and tools help the municipality drive change
The municipality’s position is consistent: mentorship and tools provided by U-LEAD with Europe enable Mykolaivka to move faster — from ideas to action, says the head Viktor Odoievtsev:
“We see our participation in the training as a big step forward and are grateful to U-LEAD with Europe. We would like to extend special appreciation to Olena [Tertyshna], Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Office, and her colleagues for their expertise and support. We will keep the cooperation going. Indeed, finding time for training is not easy, but without it, further development loses its perspective as you need to keep learning continuously. The programme opens up opportunities for the team to grow: the capacities have been noticeably strengthened. Just look at Daria, who is now more confident in preparing projects for the municipality.”
From this point on, the municipality will continue along the same path: to scale partnerships, launch a project office and translate the acquired knowledge into applied solutions for local businesses. The next steps are to officially approve the decision regarding the office, announce the “coffee with the mayor” format to the public, pilot the “showcase” of investment proposals on the website and exchange practices with colleagues from other oblasts. At the same time, the team will prepare the first joint applications with partners and test the tools developed during the training.
“Mykolaivka is actively involved in the initiatives offered by U-LEAD with Europe. The rural municipality considers the creation of a project office as a key function for municipal development and attracting investments. I firmly believe that this experience can be scaled among the municipalities of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as well as beyond — to the entirety of Ukraine,” says Olena Tertyshna, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
