News Uncategorized V4RIT-SURR Project – Study Tour of representatives of Ukrainian local authorities to the Silesian Voivodeship

V4RIT-SURR Project – Study Tour of representatives of Ukrainian local authorities to the Silesian Voivodeship

30.05.2024

On 27-28 May, representatives of local authorities and NGOs will visit Katowice, Chorzów, Świętochłowice, Gliwice and Zabrze. The aim of the study visit is to strengthen the functioning of Ukrainian local authorities as key players in the process of Ukraine's reconstruction and preparation for accession to the European Union.

The 19-member delegation includes representatives of regional and local government, NGOs and academia, 13 municipalities from 6 Ukrainian regions (Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Donetsk, Khmelnytsky, Rivne and Odessa).

 

 

The study visit was logistically prepared by IETU and experts from the Czech IURS and the Slovak SPECTRA. The recruitment of participants from Ukraine was perfectly organised by the LEDA Network of Local Economic Development Agencies.

The visit began with an introductory workshop entitled "Different Sides of a Just Transition in the Silesian Region", which provided an opportunity to learn about the specifics of the local government system in the field of municipal waste management, air quality, post-mining and energy transition, issues related to socialisation of the transition process, social dialogue or initiating cooperation between local partners from areas undergoing socio-economic transformation and R&D units with economic entities. Experiences and information were shared by IETU experts: Dr Joachim Bronder, Mariusz Kalisz, Piotr Cofałka, Wanda Jarosz, as well as Patryk Białas, President of the NGO "BoMiasto", Anna Dudek, Marshal's Office of the Silesian Voivodeship, and Adrianna Kordiak-Woryna, Association of Mining Communities in Poland.

We then showed the most spectacular examples of post-mining land transformation: The Katowice Cultural Zone, the Amelung Park in Chorzów, the Kalina Pond in Świętochłowice, cleaned up after 50 years, the 'New Gliwice' and the Królowa Luiza Mine in Zabrze," said Piotr Cofałka, Deputy Director for Research and Development. - On Tuesday evening, our Ukrainian guests travelled to Ostrava for the second part of their study visit. The Czech Republic is the second country where they will learn about the experiences of the Moravian-Silesian region. The third part is a stay in Slovakia and a presentation of examples from the Upper Nitra region.

We would like to thank the companies that opened their doors to our guests - Euro-Centrum Science and Technology Park, REMEA and EMT-SYSTEMS Engineering Training Centre.

Our guests emphasised that among the issues of particular interest to them were municipal waste management, energy independence, resource-based economic development, civic engagement and intergovernmental cooperation at various levels, including international.

In the late afternoon our Ukrainian guests travelled to Ostrava.

 

 


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