Five Ukrainian communities signed a memorandum of partnership with the town of Grzybów in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of Poland.
These communities are united by their participation in the Side by Side: United Communities project and an existing partnership with the Velykyi Lukiv community in Zakarpattia Oblast, whose head took an active part in implementing the initiative.
The Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine provided support and expertise in concluding the agreement.
The following communities joined the agreement: the Mirnenska settlement and Maryinska city communities in Donetsk Oblast, the Chornobaivska rural community in Kherson Oblast, and the Petropavlivska settlement community in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
This is an ambitious and promising approach to international cooperation at the local level. One European city works not with one community, but with a whole network of Ukrainian partners and frontline cities.
The broad geography of the project — from Zakarpattia to the frontline territories of Donetsk and Kherson regions — gives Polish partners the opportunity to get to know Ukraine better, with communities that have different needs and different development experiences.
Ukrainian communities will be able to learn from Poland's experience in attracting EU grants and implementing local development projects — mechanisms that are already working successfully in Hrybiv.
The partners are already planning practical cooperation. In particular, trips for children from frontline communities to Poland are being discussed. Joint working visits by Polish and Ukrainian communities to Germany and Austria will soon take place to exchange experience in administrative management.
The "one city — several communities" cooperation format is a pilot project, but it is already clear that it could become a model for new international partnerships between Ukrainian communities.
William Kall, mayor of the Slovak city of Veľký Šariš, another partner of the Velykyi Luchky community, also joined the meeting. He announced that his community also plans to sign memoranda of cooperation with Ukrainian communities within the framework of "Side by Side: United Communities."