USAID DOBRE Program is looking for Moderators for Strategic Development and Investment Conference/ Програма USAID DOBRE шукає модераторів для проведення конференції “Стратегічний розвиток та інвестиції”

Background:

Decentralization in Ukraine

Since 2014, Ukraine is undergoing the much-needed reform on decentralization that aims to improve public services, clearly define the responsibilities of the various layers of governance and engage citizens in local decision-making.  The reform includes:

• administrative territorial reorganization of the lowest level of governance: the new consolidated communities are created to ensure that they provide better services on the local level.  The original 11,000 local communities (as of 2014) the reform is planning to leave around 1500-1800 consolidated communities.  In addition, in the end of 2018 the government has announced a plan to reorganize the second level of governance and reorganize 490 rayons into 100. 
• delegation of the authorities: the newly created communities receive extended list of responsibilities including local economic development, territorial development planning, local budgeting and establishment of the local taxes, management of municipal roads, solid waste management, public transportation and many other.
• fiscal decentralization: provides the funding for local government to implement its functions. Local governments of amalgamated communities and cities of oblast significance have significantly increased their budgets and they continue to grow[1].  The major source of funding for communities is personal income tax, where local governments leave 60% of the tax collected on its territory. 
• sectoral reforms: in parallel to decentralization, sectoral reforms are ongoing in the area of education and health care. These reforms are aimed to improve quality and access to services on the local level and change how the state provides funding for these services. 

With the new delegation of authorities, local governments now take a responsibility for territorial and strategic planning, local economic development and strategic development.  However, since many of the rural communities have never dealt with this on the local level, they are challenged by this task. They have little understanding on what tools exist for local economic development, how they can support local SMEs and engage with investors. 

DOBRE program

Launched on June 8, 2016 DOBRE program is designed to enable leaders of newly formed Consolidated Communities (CCs) to respond to citizen priorities by effectively managing resources, increasing the quality of public services, stimulating local economies, and improving citizen engagement. DOBRE has the goal of enabling these new CCs to thrive and prosper, while serving as a model and motivation to other CCs working to amalgamate.

DOBRE is a 5-year $50 million program funded by USAID and implemented by Global Communities, in consortium with Foundation in Support of Local Democracy (FSLD/FRDL) in Poland, Malopolska School of Public Administration at Krakow University (MSAP/UEK), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center (UCMC), and Social Boost.

DOBRE works with 75 communities in targeted 7 oblast engaging a range of local actors in demand driven technical assistance, so they can serve as a model for others.  DOBRE provides comprehensive support to the communities with which it works by supporting strategic planning process, developing service development improvements plans and assisting in local economic development planning.  DOBRE also provides small grants to each community for implementation of the developed plans.

Strategic Development and Investment Conference

While program is involved in targeted technical capacity on the ground, it also struggles to build an understanding in DOBRE communities on what local economic development is.  While facing the increased responsibilities for economic development, many communities are still hoping for a large investor to come to their community and deal with all their challenges. At the same time, these communities are not able to provide basic information for attracting investment, not able to communicate properly their advantages to potential investors and if such opportunity would come up will not have a sufficient qualified workforce for large employer.  With understanding of all this gaps in knowledge, DOBRE annual conference is focused on the issues around Strategic Development and Investment. 

The conference invites communities to meet with potential investors, national government and experts and discuss local economic development.  Day 1 of the conference consist of panel discussions with government, large businesses and potential investors sharing their view on how they could work more with rural communities.  Day 2 invites participants to discuss in 3 parallel sessions the critical issues of development.  You can find photos and some materials (in Ukrainian) on the last year conference following this link http://decentralization.uacrisis.org/invest2materials 

Goal and objectives:

DOBRE is seeking for two moderators to work on Day 1 of the conference.

• Moderator 1 – will be responsible for moderating panel discussion starting at 10 and finishing at 18 on November 21^st. In particular the Moderator 1 will:
  • Moderate the welcoming panel with the representatives of key ministries, USAID, and representative of the Association of Amalgamated communities. The discussion will be based around the definition of the sustainable communities, support of economic development in communities and contribution of the decentralization to the economic development.  The speakers will be invited to make a short welcoming statement and then moderator will ask her questions as well as invite participants to speak.
  • Moderate the Awarding ceremony of up to 7 communities with the appreciation award and best achievements recognition.
  • Moderate the panel on “What Hromada can offer to Investor?”. Representatives of the local government in US, representatives of the big companies in Ukraine and investment funds will share their ideas on how they can be better attracted to communities, what community can do around the issue of investment.
  • Moderate the panel discussion on the agricultural sector and land reform. The panel will invite authors of the land reform, representatives of business and potential investors who will speak about opportunities and challenges of the land reform. 
• Moderator 2 – will moderate an evening program in the format of the sharing and learning from failures in local economic development. While the day 2 will be mostly focused on discussion of the best practices, this session will show that there is no easy solutions to local economic development in the rural areas.  Participants will be invited to share their experience from failures, lessons learned and recommendations based on this experience.  This should be moderated in a light humorous way.  The three speakers along with Moderator 2 will be seated at the stage on the high chairs.  The discussion will be semi-formal during dinner and other participants will be invited to speak up or ask questions. 

LOE for the Moderators:

Qualification:

• Proven experience of successful moderation of the large conferences before
• Understanding of decentralization reform and its challenges
• Understanding challenges of the amalgamated communities
• Previous experience working with the reform communications
• Journalistic or public relations background will be an asset

Candidates are asked to submit CVs and Cover Letters with brief summary of qualification to [email protected], indicating Moderator for Investment Conference in the subject line by COB November 12, 2019.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

[1] https://decentralization.gov.ua/news/9153