Weyburn's Mayor Debra Button is in Ukraine as part of a mission from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to help provide leadership and guidance to municipalities there in dealing with an economic crisis.
Weyburn's Mayor Debra Button is in Ukraine as part of a mission from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to help provide leadership and guidance to municipalities there in dealing with an economic crisis.
The mission, under the auspices of the Municipal Local Economic Development (MLED) project, will go from Dec. 6 to 15.
Mayor Button will bring her perspective and experience as a locally-elected leader as well as her experiences in partnering with the business community and the private sector, as well as her perspective as a woman working within a Canadian municipality.
From 2010 until 2015, the FCM will implement the MLED project, which is a $17 million CIDA-funded program that will contribute to improved economic opportunities for Ukrainians through more inclusive and effective local governments that meet the needs of their citizens, and the business community with support of enabling institutions.
The impact of the economic crisis in Ukraine has been significant, and is compounded by the fact that the environment for business and investment is not fully consolidated. At the local level, cities have a role to play in creating a stable local environment conducive to economic growth and investment, but knowledge and experience in business and investment planning is not very well developed, which hinders local economic development.
The municipalities in Ukraine do not have sufficient resources with people or money to properly provide services for economic development, such as by helping entrepreneurs.
The mission includes a number of Canadian municipal experts, including other mayors and councillors, who will provide strategic leadership and use a culturally-sensitive approach to build the capacity of Ukrainian local government representatives and staff.
The aim of gender equality efforts within the MLED project will be promote gender-equitable local governance and economic development in which both men and women are participants.
Some of the benefits to the Canadian municipalities which have representatives include building the reputation of their municipality and using their experience to assist other countries; provide opportunities to their staff to develop new outreach and advisory skills in a development context; and create linkages for their community, businesses and institutions at a global level.
