1. The Local Ecological Action Program, financed by USAID – The U.S. Agency on International Development (АМР USA). Participants:

1. Institute for Sustainable Communities (USA).

2. Initiative Center for Assistance for the Activities and Development of Public Principles ‘Ednanya’ (Ukraine).

3. Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecology Actions.

Result: co-operation with international public organizations and funds and participation in various programs.

2. Project ‘Strengthening Cooperation through Educational Visits of Representatives of Local Government in Poland and Ukraine,’ financed by АМР USA. Participants:

1. The Polish-American-Ukrainian Cooperation Initiative (PAUCI).

2. Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecological Actions.

Result: Five citizens of Evpatoria and representatives of various sectors of society visited Оctravetz Svyatokshizki for five days.

Six citizens of Оctravetz Svyatokshizki visited Evpatoria.

Three people were delegates of the Kiev PAUCI Conference.

An agreement for cooperation between Оctravetz Svyatokshizki and Evpatoria is concluded.

3. Small Grant Program for Non-Profit Organizations, financed by АМР USA.

1. Directed by the public organization Ednanya (Ukraine).

2. Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecological Actions (Kiev).

Results:

  Six organizations participated in the grant competition. Four public organizations received grants. Twelve people received skills in conducting an expert grant evaluation. Four grants and two councils of experts were carried out. Evpatoria’s non-profit organizations received $3250.

  A park located on the abandoned lot near school #12 was re-planted and modernized, the park zone of Lake Мoynaki received two garbage containers (together with the creation of a container site), guard signs were placed in the park area of Lake Мoynaki lake, a watering system was created on the territory of school #8. Also the territory of the Dervish Тekiye architectural monument was modernized and a series of clean-up actions at the following sites was conducted: the abandoned lot near school #12, the park zone of Lake Мoynaki and the territory of school #8.

4. Small Grant Program of the ‘Зміцнення Program of Partnership Between School and the Public” financed by АМР USA.

Directed by the public organization ‘Ditina & Dovkillya’ (Kiev).

Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecology Actions.

Results: Fifteen actions were conducted by student collectives, a council of experts was held, two grants were won in the amounts of $300 and $400, involving the administration of programs of education, the Dolphinarium, the Young Naturalists’ Station and ten schools.

Twelve students gained the experience of conducting interactive activities.

5. Introduction to Information Systems, financed by АМР USA.

Participants:

1. International Association ‘Ukrainian Center of Land and Resource Management.’

2. Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecology Actions.

Results:

  Seminar in Kiev (three people).

  Creation of a ‘Description of the State of the Environment’ on a map of Evpatoria.

  The Description of the State of the Environment map placed on УЦМЗР website.

  Creation of the Ukrainian Center of Land and Resource Management Association.

  ‘Analysis of the Ecological State of Evpatoria in the Geo-Information System.’

  Presentation of ‘Analysis of the Ecological State of Evpatoria’ at the International Forum of the Local Ecology Actions Program held in Balaclava.

6. Project ‘Network of Public Participation in Decision Making’ under the framework of the UCAN Program financed by АМР USA.

1. Directed by the public environmental law organization, EcoPravo-Kiev.

2. Executed by the Evpatoria public organization Local Ecology Actions.

Results:

  Round table on additions to city statutes (25 people).

  Public hearing in December of 2003 on EPD (over 400 people).

  Public hearing in June of 2004 on Lake Moynaki. (104 people).

  Seminar in Kiev (3 people).

7. Scholastic Program ‘Academy of Development Through Education’ financed by АМР USA.

1. Administered by the Academy of Development Through Education under the special environment program.

2. Executed by Local Ecology Actions.

Organized a training for citizen representatives of Evpatoria on ‘The Managerial System TBO.’

Results:

  Thirty people attended a presentation on the state of Evpatoria’s TBO management systems and on modern international technologies.

  A list of priority actions on the improvement of the management system for Evpatoria’s solid domestic waste was set forth providing: an expansion of the possibilities for management of problems in the field of the environment in the following directions: 1) solid waste, 2) dangerous communal and domestic wastes, 3) cleaning the sewers, 4) drinking-water quality and 5) industrial contamination (ecological audit and management systems in the area of the environment).

The target audience is managers of municipal services, business, industry and representatives of NGOs, local authorities and the public.

Description of scholastic program: five three-day and five one-day seminars for 20-30 participants is conducted on each of the five noted directions. During the seminars, participants study the training of practical applications of technical skills in the regions they represent.

After the seminars, candidates will be selected for participation in the educational tour of Central European cities with successful examples of solutions to ecological problems in these five directions (excepting ecological audits). The informational tour may be thematically oriented (solid, communal or domestic waste, drinking-water quality and cleaning sewer systems). The educational tour on ecological audits will occur in Ukraine (a visit of Ukrainian sites and departments already involved in working on environment management plans is expected).

8. European Union TACIS Project: ‘Ecological Information, Education and Edification of the Public’ for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Project Leader: Veronica Vann, Great Britain.

Project Name: ‘Public Participation in Local Government Decision-Making with an Example of the Development of a Plan to Modernize One of Evpatoria’s Micro-Regions.”

Project Client: City Council in the person of mayor A.P. Danilenko.

Project Executor: a working group and С.V. Suhovoychenko, chairman of Local Ecological Actions.

Project Information:

The project provides for perfecting the mechanisms of public participation in decision-making by Evpatoria’s local government by participation in developing a plan to modernize one of the city’s micro-regions and discussions about the topic in public hearings conducting by a general information company.

Project Goal:

To assist in the development and adoption of the Arhus Convention and spread the positive results of the project to other cities of Ukraine. The project foresees conducting a series of practical and informative actions directed towards increasing the effectiveness of the co-operation between citizens and local city governments in the decision-making process for ecological problems, the enhancement of the legislative base and increasing public access to information.

The problem the project is directed at:

In the modern phase of development of the mechanisms of urban infrastructure management, the real problem is the activation of public participation in decision-making and forming plans for modernization and prospective city development, including ecological tasks. The lack of knowledge and information restricts the full potential for effective co-operation between the public and local government in decision-making. The background for perfecting the mechanisms of co-operation between the public and local government public participation is developing a plan of modernizing the city, its separate districts and zones.

Project tasks for achieving this aim:

  To spread information about the Arhus convention to the authorities and the population.

  To perfect public participation mechanisms in decision-making by local government through the example of a plan to modernize one of the city’s micro-regions.

  To conduct an information campaign.

Results:

  Information about the Arhus Convention is provided to the city public.

  Supplements conforming to the Arhus Convention are fixed to Evpatoria’s statutes by City Council decision.

  Public participation mechanisms in decision-making on the issue of city modernization are produced.

  A general public company is organized. Co-operation between the public and representatives of ecological public organizations is established.

  Project experience is disseminated to other cities of Ukraine.

9. Project ‘Network of Cities of Stable Development in Ukraine’.

Project administered by the NGO ‘Rosewinds’ (Ukraine) and Groundwork (Great Britain) under the financial support of Great Britain’s Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFRA) and supported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and other interested parties. Official work began in May of 2003.

Aim: The project is directed to using the experience of Great Britain and other countries that found that public-government partnership can 1) become the key element for the maximum effective use of available resources, 2) guarantee that development has balanced solutions supporting all interested parties, particularly the public, and 3) promote the development of long-term stability.

The project promotes bringing-in additional sources of financing.

Result: Evpatoria entered the network of cities of stable development in Ukraine.

10. The Access Initiative Program. Administered by the Institute of World Resources (USA).

Two Ukrainian cities, Kiev and Evpatoria, were chosen for conducting analytical research of the democratization process in Ukraine under the framework of the international Access Initiative Program.

Result: The creation in Ukraine of a document characterizing the implementation of the tenth principle of the Rio de-Janeiro Declaration on Environment and the positions of the Arhus Convention on access to information, public participation in the decision-making process and access to justice on issues regarding the environment.

The basic task of the program is to increase public access to information, participation in decision-making and access to justice on ecological issues by increasing the ecological education of citizens, reforming national policy and legislation and developing suitable institutes.

The research program uniting various public organizations from many countries with the purpose to clarify the ecological/democratic situation is supported by governments of different countries and large international organizations such as the Global Ecological Fund, the UN Program on Environmental Protection, the World bank and others.

A team of researchers collects and analyzes information using special methods including more than a hundred questions - indicators applied for measuring the development of the principles of access (information, participation, justice). Then the analytical material collected is sent for consideration by the a monitoring council made up of ministry and department representatives, Deputies of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine and experts of international organizations.

11. Project on the Renewal of the Black Sea Ecological Systems (ChEP), financed by the UN, the European Union and the World Bank.

Project Administrators: The Permanent Secretariat of the Commission on Protection of the Black Sea from Pollution, the Executive Department of the UN under the Ecosystem Renewal Program project ‘Renewal of the Black Sea Ecosystems with technical help from the TACIS Black Sea Ecological Program.

Results:

  Receipt of an investment proposal from representatives of the ChEP Program for the reconstruction of Evpatoria’s sanitation buildings.

  Adaptation in Evpatoria of the textbook on Black Sea ecology for the cities of Ukraine on the Black Sea.

Holding a Black Sea Day in Evpatoria.

The Black Sea Ecological Recovery Program (BSERP) supports countries bordering the Black Sea on implementation of the Black Sea Recovery and Protection Strategic Action Plan (BS-SAP).

Ukraine, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Romania and Turkey signed the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) on the Recovery and Protection of the Black Sea. This plan was developed on the basis of comprehensive evaluations of the state of the Black Sea which showed that the sea has been extremely depleted for the last three decades. The SAP itself presents complete guidance on the practical measures which are necessary for the recovery of the Black Sea from this critical state.

ChEP is an independent agency which promotes the Bucharest Convention and the development and realization of the Black Sea Strategic Action Plan (SAP). Starting in 1993, ChEP has been serving the important task of conducting multifaceted activities directed toward the good of society and the state. From signing in 1996, ChEP has continued to actively participate in the process of carrying-out the SAP. Recently the parties to the Bucharest Convention characterized ChEP as a coordinated program developed to assist under its own leadership the realization of the SAP. Coordination of projects under the framework of ChEP is provided by the Joint Group on Project Management with all activity in the Black Sea region conducted at the program or project level.

12. Co-operation with the US Peace Corps in Ukraine.

Aim:

  - Provision by a Peace Corps volunteer of assistance in the preparation and editing of documents for programs to attract investment and for stable urban development.

  - Creation and support of an information website to popularize Evpatoria and search for partners for cooperation.