On the 4^th of November 2005 the official presentation of the Municipal Sustainable Development Programme of UNDP was held in the premises of the executive committee of Novohrad-Volynska City Council. Now onward, Programme activities will be implemented in Novohrad-Volynskyy to improve the living quality of the citizens of this municipality.

The «Partnership Agreement» with Novohrad-Volynskyy Municipality was signed by UNDP on the 7^th of June 2005 in the context of expanding the Programme activities on improvement of the municipal, ecological, economic and social governance to the new cities of Ukraine.

To launch the Programme activities in the city, the official presentation of the Municipal Sustainable Development Programme of United Nations Development Programme was held on the 4^th of November 2005 in the premises of the executive committee of Novohrad-Volynska City Council. Presentation took place in participation of Mr. Mykola Borovets, City Mayor of Novohrad-Volynskyy, his deputies, heads of the directorates and departments of the executive committee of Novohrad-Volynska City Council, heads of the permanent deputy commissions, representatives of existing associations of co-owners of multi-apartment buildings, school directors, heads of the local NGOs (non-governmental organisations), members of the local self-governing bodies (school parliaments, student councils), media, other interested parties.

On behalf of the local community Mr. Mykola Borovets, the City Mayor of Novohrad-Volynskyy, welcomed the participants, and substantiated the necessity of implementation of the sustainable development principles in the city, and showed the intention of the local government to support the Programme activities, and bear the part of cost-sharing according with the Partnership Agreement. In his turn, Mr. Jaysingh Sah, International Project Manager, confirmed the willingness of the Programme to support the sustainable development activities of the level of Novohrad-Volynskyy municipality, and presented the methods of social  mobilisation and public-private partnership as major instruments of community empowerment, which are being used in the course of the project implementation. 

The experience of UNDP/MSDP implementation in the pilot partner municipalities was shared by Mrs. Olena Ursu, Monitoring and Communication Officer, who stressed the main objectives of the Programme and its achievements on the local and national levels. The detailed structure and mechanism of Programme implementation was highlighted by Mrs. Iryna Kovalchuk, Governance and Sustainable Development Officer.

With the purpose of ensuring the implementation of the Programme activities on the local level, the Municipal Support Unit was created within the structure of the municipality. Mrs. Iryna Hudz’, the head of the department of economy, Municipal Project Coordinator, talked about the work plans for the nearest future. At the end of the presentation, all the present had the opportunity to interact with the representatives of the local government, and project management unit of UNDP/MSDP from Kyiv, and could get the answers to all questions they were interested in. 

This event became the official opening of the Programme in the municipality. Mr. Mykola Borovets, the City Mayor of Novohrad-Volynskyy, claimed: “We are thankful to the management of United Nations Development Programme for choosing our municipality for cooperation with Municipal Sustainable Development Programme. On our part, we will do everything possible to jointly implement the more projects the better to improve life of our local citizens”.