PR_MCInfo Session on Creating a Vision for the Development of Ukrainian Communities
📅 On September 9, 2025, at 15:00, the Club of Mayors of Ukraine, together with experts from Economy of Trust Ukraine, held an online info session on the Zoom platform dedicated to the process of creating a vision for the development of Ukrainian communities that are currently at the stage of post-war recovery.
In the first half of the event, the speakers included: Yuliya Chufistova, Director of the Municipal Economic Development Agency UMEDA and Member of the Presidium of the Mayors’ Club Ukraine, Larysa Starikova, Chief Coordinator of the MEFP program and Serhiy Shynkarenko, Director of Ukraine Development Alliance (UDA) and Head of the National Commercial Department of Economic Unions.
The invited speakers aimed to highlight the advantages of using the tools that municipalities receive within the framework of the exclusive Municipal Economic Feasibility Program (MEFP), developed by the Economy of Trust Ukraine ecosystem specifically for members of the Club of Mayors. They emphasized that creating a vision for community development is the top priority for every local administration seeking to implement effective strategic solutions, attract foreign investment, develop infrastructure, and improve the quality of life of the Ukrainian people. Additionally, Larysa Starikova outlined the challenges communities constantly face when trying to establish contact with foreign investors, such as a difficult investment climate, communication barriers, and lack of practical experience in preparing informational materials for the investor community. She also presented the mechanisms developed within the MEFP program to neutralize these obstacles.
During his presentation, Serhiy Shynkarenko gave a comprehensive answer to the question: «How exactly does the program help communities solve the problem of attracting the attention of international strategic partners and foreign investors?». He stressed that a key factor is creating conditions under which external financial resources can directly flow into community projects, particularly those based on public-private partnerships (PPP) — the driving force of sustainable economic development.
To demonstrate the investment attractiveness of Ukrainian communities, a Virtual Investment Showcase of Ukraine was created. It consists of several elements:
- A platform for economic unions and communities.
- A platform for industrial parks and available land plots for their establishment.
- A platform for projects, where each initiative has its own dedicated showroom.
Integration of a community into one of these platforms significantly increases its chances of being noticed by potential foreign investors and receiving financial support. It was also emphasized that today there is a serious issue with the formation of public investment portfolios. Quite often, they are presented without including public-private partnership (PPP) projects, which significantly limits the community’s opportunities to access even the existing resources from the state budget. The MEFP program provides members of the Club of Mayors with the services of experienced professionals who help them not only shape their investment portfolio but also define the community’s key needs on which their investment request will be based.
Using the example of the Economy of Trust Ukraine ecosystem, Henry Shterenberg, President of World Trade Center Kyiv, demonstrated the importance of every financial actor having a structured vision of their further economic development. He identified seven key components that contribute to shaping a community’s development vision:
- Unlimited thinking – ambition.
- Team management – involving all segments of the population in improving the local governance system.
- Understanding the core values of the community.
- A clear action plan.
- Transparency and openness in intentions.
- A comprehensive approach to implementing the approved development strategy.
- Collaboration with competent experts in various fields.
To illustrate this, Henry Shterenberg invited participants to review the investment presentations used by Ukrainian communities during the first REBIRTH OF UKRAINE Trade Mission to Japan. Despite their large volume, these materials lacked a clear definition of community development vision. This trend demonstrates that the majority of Ukrainian municipalities are not yet prepared even for the first stage of interaction with foreign investors.
🔷 To overcome this information barrier, representatives of Economy of Trust Ukraine developed several templates for investment presentations that help systematize materials capable of fully revealing the investment potential of Ukrainian communities, industrial parks, businesses, or projects. During the online conference, members of the Club of Mayors had the opportunity to review completed investment presentations of the Teofipol Community and the ECO Mukachevo Industrial Park.
At the end of the meeting, Henry Shterenberg spoke about the projects that the entire Economy of Trust Ukraine ecosystem is now actively working on. One of them is the creation of a place that will become a true investment magnet for the whole country — the new building of the World Trade Center Kyiv. It is envisioned not only as a symbol of Ukraine’s integration into the global economic system but also as a central platform for interaction between municipalities, the business community, and international partners, powered by a digital showroom of Ukraine’s investment opportunities.
Today, we must demonstrate to the world the unshakable strength of our national unity, as it is the driving force of Ukraine’s rebirth. The MEFP program is a practical tool for long-term economic growth, helping communities implement their vision and reinforce it with concrete actions.
Start taking your first steps towards sustainable economic development today. The decisions you make will determine how the world will see Ukraine tomorrow.
If you (or the head of your community) are a certified member of the Mayors’ Club and would like your community to join the MEFP program, please contact the project coordinator today:
Larysa Starikova
📩 program_nmefp@eotukraine.com
📞 +380 98 213 9192 (Viber, WhatsApp)
👉🏻 Learn more about the MEFP program at this link.