CEMR is looking for an external expert external expertise to create and develop partnerships between Ukrainian municipalities and local governments in France and Spain.
Deadline to apply: 07 March 2023
For more information, have a look at our call for tender.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
CEMR is looking for an external expert external expertise to create and develop partnerships between Ukrainian municipalities and local governments in Italy.
Deadline to apply: 03 March 2023
For more information, have a look at our call for tender.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
On 15 February 2023, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) together with the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) and with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe programme (U-LEAD) presented a new phase of the “Bridges of Trust” initiative. It will run until September 2023 with 10 CEMR member associations of local and regional governments from the EU member states facilitating 30 new municipal partnerships for the reconstruction of Ukraine. During the online meeting, speakers from the European Committee of the Regions, the EU Delegation to Ukraine, CEMR, AUC and U-LEAD discussed the importance of the “Bridges of Trust” initiative as a tool to rebuild Ukrainian municipalities and a new format of international cooperation between local governments in Ukraine and the EU.
Municipal partnerships are a way to provide concrete actions of help and support, show solidarity and build back better together. The representative of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, Mr. Tomasz Ostropolski, stated: “Such an initiative has high-level support and visibility from the European Commission and Ukraine’s top officials. Therefore, it is important for us to transfer political ideas into practice in order to contribute to local and regional cooperation between EU and Ukrainian municipalities.”
Ms. Darja Gontsarova-Parvulescu, from the European Committee of the Regions, who represents theEuropean Alliance of Cities and Regions for the Reconstruction of Ukraine emphasised: “We consider that these direct bilateral exchanges between Ukrainian and European municipalities in the framework of the Bridges of Trust initiative have a lot of impacts on the upcoming process of reconstruction of Ukraine.”
“Links of exchange and cooperation between municipalities are a driving force in the growth and development of the communities and of Europe as a whole. Bridges of Trust initiative represents an innovative and driven approach to the international cooperation in modern Europe and is a strategic priority for CEMR” – noted Mr.Fabrizio Rossi, CEMR Secretary General.
Executive Director of theAssociation of Ukrainian Cities, Mr.Oleksandr Slobozhan, expressed gratitude to the European partners for their cooperation and support of Ukrainian hromadas during the war and emphasized: “The work on establishing effective partnerships between municipalities is very significant for Ukraine’s European integration in the future. Therefore, the Bridges of Trust initiative makes a significant contribution to Ukraine’s European perspective.”
In particular, Mr.Bastian Veigel, GIZ Program Director, U-LEAD with Europe, noted that: “Our common aim is to connect municipalities and identify interest in fostering cooperation ultimately promoting economic development from both sides.”
During the event, the representatives of the associations of local and regional governments presented ways in which they will contribute to the main goal of the initiative – reconstruction of Ukraine. It is planned that in each of the participating countries 3 small or medium sized municipalities will be selected and matched with similar Ukrainian municipalities. The representatives of partner local governments from Ukraine and the EU will therefore exchange best practices, conduct internships and study visits, organize events and develop projects with the focus on the reconstruction of Ukrainian municipalities.
The participants of the event also emphasized the need to strengthen municipal ties between the EU and Ukraine and expressed their support for the people of Ukraine, who continue to fight for their freedom and the European way of life.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
On 15 February 2023, the “Bridges of Trust” initiative kicked off its second phase with a hybrid event in Brussels. Until September 2023, 10 associations of local and regional governments from the EU member states will facilitate 30 new municipal partnerships for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The initiative is supported by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) and U-Lead.
For more information on this event, read the press release.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
After the sudden Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of last year, the city of Korosten had to break its twinning relations with a few cities in Siberia and Belarus. “They became our enemies”, declares the Mayor of Korosten. However, that was not the case for its Lithuanian twin Urkmerge who became a close ally of the Ukrainian city.
In the framework of the “Bridges of Trust” project, the Ukrainian city of Korosten signed a cooperation agreement with the Lithuanian city of Ukmerge. The municipalities have already exchanged visits of their delegations: “There were more Ukrainian flags than the Lithuanian ones,” recalls Volodymyr Moskalenko, Mayor of the city based in the Zhytomyr region in the northwest of Ukraine. In an interview with the U-LEAD, he describes how the cooperation has helped many Ukrainians so far.
“Initially we asked for medicines and long-term food packages,” he says. However, Urkmerge keeps offering this kind of help even after the initial support. In addition to medicine and food, the Ukrainian city has also received generators, a large bus, and trench candles for the military.
As their Baltic counterpart is advanced in the use of alternative energy, Moskalenko wonders about utilising their experience to help bring this kind of energy to Ukraine. Russian attacks are often directed towards the energy infrastructure, which shows the importance of the capacity of a municipality to address these kinds of needs on its own according to the Mayor.
He mentions the positive attitude of the Lithuanians towards Ukraine and its citizens. “Each of our conversations comes down to the question ‘How can we help you?’. We are impressed,” Moskalenko says. He assures that the cities intend to further develop their cultural cooperation and exchange: “We have found true friends.”
However, that wasn’t the case in some of Korosten’s former twin cities in Russia and Belarus. On the day of the Russian invasion in February, the city council had a session and immediately broke the twinning relations with Mozyr from Belarus and two cities from Siberia in Russia: “What twinning relations can we have with them if they are our enemies?” ponders Moskalenko.
However, he thinks that it is worth mentioning that the invasion was the catalyst for uniting national cultures in Ukraine, as Ukmerge isn’t the only city that has expressed the desire to become Korosten’s twin. “Bourges in France contacted us. They hosted 200 women and children from Korosten,” informs the Mayor while declaring that they are keeping in touch with them. They are also in contact with cities in Great Britain, China, and Japan. “But just contacts so far,” concludes Moskalenko.
Source: U-LEAD
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
The European Commission and the Committee of the Regions have launched a humanitarian appeal to European cities and regions. Responding to an urgent request from the Ukrainian Government, they call on a joint effort to send energy supplies to Ukraine.
The escalation of Russian attacks on civilian infrastructures and residential buildings has deeply impacted the Ukrainian energy network. In consequence, only 70% of peak demand power can be covered, leaving millions of people without electricity and water in the middle of winter. To strengthen the humanitarian action of Member States and private donors, the Commission is now calling on European regions and cities to provide further assistance.
Cities and regions can make donations of energy items both new and old, in particular power generators and heaters. The transport costs to the new “rescEU energy” hub in Poland are co-financed by the Union budget. For more information, donors are invited to contact the European Commission.
The European Commission has already been facilitating donations of energy equipment and fuel through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). So far, they have delivered over 55,000 energy items, including 775 power generators, provided by the Member States and private donors. As cities and regions join this common effort, more energy infrastructure will be preserved and restored, helping millions of people regain access to water and electricity.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
From March 2021 to November 2022, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and PLATFORMA have been implementing a project “Empowering Municipalities in Ukraine and the European Union through building municipal partnerships” within the framework of U-LEAD with Europe’s initiative “Bridges of Trust” and with the support of U-LEAD with Europe.
Based on a careful matching process, which included analysis of the socio-economic factors and sectors of development of the EU municipalities, the Initiative matched 10 Ukrainian municipalities in 7 regions with municipalities in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Online bilateral meetings between partners allow to launch the partnerships, identify common interests as well as plan joint activities such as study visits to exchange best practices.
After the start of the Russian war, some European municipalities, upon request of their Ukrainian partners, provided humanitarian and financial assistance. Such support from European partners is extremely valuable. For example, Šiauliai district municipality in Lithuania sent eleven tons of humanitarian aid to the Dolyna community in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The total amount is approximately 100 thousand euros. The same partner organised a summer school for 36 children from Dolyna.
“Through such projects, we are trying to link those Ukrainian municipalities, especially small and medium size, that need support but might have no experience in international cooperation, with municipalities in the EU that are motivated and ready to help. We remember the important role peer-to-peer cooperation and twinning played in the post-WWII reconstruction of Europe. It should also help Ukraine recover, rebuild, renew, and become a member of the EU family. These are the real and long-term bridges that CEMR together with our Associations, and with the support of actors like the U-LEAD, are helping to build”, – says Fabrizio Rossi, Secretary General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an important objective of the project became organization of the solidarity events, in close cooperation with the Associations of Local Government and the U-LEAD with Europe, in order to communicate about the wartime realities and the needs of Ukrainian municipalities and to motivate other EU municipalities to engage and establish new partnerships. 400 participants took part in the Poland-Ukraine, Slovakia-Ukraine and France-Ukraine Solidarity Forums. Ukrainian mayors presented the realities of both destroyed and formerly occupied municipalities as well as those that have accepted internally displaced people but have not suffered damages to the physical infrastructure. The EU municipalities have also presented concrete actions of support.
“For us at U-LEAD, the “Bridges of Trust” is not just another initiative, not just one of numerous projects we do every day. It is literally one of the main pillars of our work. We constantly wish to bring Ukrainian municipalities closer to their counterparts in the EU. The importance of the “Bridges of Trust” during the Russian invasion hasn’t decreased in the slightest, but, quite the opposite, it has become even more crucial. The forums that we’ve had over the last months have been more than an opportunity for international cooperation – they provided a perspective to Ukrainian municipalities and thus a bit of hope to their citizens. But in the long run the aftermath of our work will be even much more valuable, for the partnerships we have facilitated will turn from bridges to foundations – the foundations of the future European local self-government. There is so much work that is still ahead of us, but for getting this far I am sincerely grateful to all our partners who made the “Bridges of Trust” possible: the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, the European Coalition of cities and regions PLATFORMA, the Ministry for Communities and Territorial Development, and, of course, all the municipalities that participated”, – Bastian Veigel, GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe
The project has also contributed to the understanding of key success and failure factors for the international municipal cooperation of Ukrainian municipalities. The publication prepared in the framework of the project provides an annotated mapping of existing partnerships between Ukrainian and EU municipalities; an analysis of key success and failure factors of international municipal cooperation with a special focus on cooperation between Ukrainian and EU municipalities and recommendations for future sustainable cooperation between Ukrainian and EU municipalities.
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions will continue its work in supporting cooperation between local governments in Ukraine and in the EU member states.
To see more stories of support consult this page.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
European municipalities are invited to take part in the “Networking Session with Ukrainian Local Communities” that will take place on 7-9 December 2022 in Rzeszów, Poland, in the framework of the World for Ukraine Summit.
33 mayors from all around Ukraine, representing different small- and middle-sized local governance associations, and different regions of Ukraine – both frontline, de-occupied and rear, will participate in the event and present their communities, share their thoughts on the role of local governance in the recovery of Ukraine after the war. This includes mayors of Skadovsk, Lviv, Pokrovska, Dunayevetska, Ivankivska, among others.
This is an excellent occasion for mayors from European municipalities to meet their colleagues and launch a new cooperation.
Who is invited to participate
Practical information
For more information about the programme, please see this document.
If you are interested, please contact info@unitedforua.org for more details on which costs for participation can be covered by the United for Ukraine initiative.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
Cities across Europe mobilise for Ukraine… Yesterday, Arnaud Robinet, the French mayor of Reims, a city home to 180,000 inhabitants, greeted the secretary of the city council of Chernihiv located 150 km north of Kyiv.
On the agenda: the sealing of a partnership to improve relations and networking between the two cities in 2023. Representatives from both cities got around the table to identify core areas of action.
Beyond the symbolic gesture of flying the Ukrainian flag from the town hall, Reims committed to supporting the Ukrainian people by taking concrete actions, including in the fields of youth, public services and culture.
Reims officials are also planning to invite teenagers from Chernihiv to take part in summer programmes focusing on culture, sports and art. They also committed to helping restore Chernihiv once the war was over.
Cities across Europe mobilise for Ukraine
Throughout Europe, cities are showing solidarity with Ukraine. To turn this into concrete measures, an online platform, Cities4Cities, was created to help Ukrainian cities. Launched at the initiative of the mayor of the city of Sindelfingen Bernd Vöhringer, also president of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the platform aims to match Ukrainian and other European cities to provide help and support local infrastructure in Ukraine. The platform is supported by the Congress and the CEMR.
To find out more about how local governments support Ukraine, just click here.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
On 23-27 October 2022, representatives from the Ukrainian municipality, Zboriv, visited their Lithuanian partner, the district municipality Joniškis. The visit was organised in the framework of the CEMR-PLATFORMA project “Bridges of Trust: Empowering Municipalities in Ukraine and the European Union through building municipal partnerships“. The project is supported by the U-LEAD with Europe programme.
During the visit, working meetings between the Ukrainian representatives, the Mayor of Joniškis, Vitalijus Gailius, and the municipal officials responsible for different sectors such as social services, communal services, youth, education, and healthcare.
In the Open Youth Center of Joniškis School of Art, the participants of the visit got acquainted with the centre’s activities, its volunteers, and the ongoing projects. The delegation also visited the Joniškis Agricultural School, where the director of the school, Juventa Jurgelienė, presented the training centre, educational farm, and modernized laboratories. In the Child and Family Welfare Center, the provided services were presented, and similarities and differences between the provision of such services in Joniškis and Zboriv were discussed to highlight best practices to implement in the future.
A particularly insightful part of the trip was a visit to the Seimas and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, organised by Joniškis for the partners from Ukraine. The delegation exchanged with the politicians on humanitarian support, the reception of Ukrainians fleeing the war in other countries and other relevant issues.
Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)
