Lutsk Сity and the Lippe District (FRG) are celebrating 5 years of partnership
Lutsk City and the Lippe District (FRG) have been partners since 6 September 2015. The Partnership Agreement was signed by the former Lutsk City Mayor Mykola Romaniuk 5 years ago with active assistance of the Head of NGO “Bridges of Friendship to Ukraine” Karl-Hermann Krog. That was a milestone for the implementation of many mutual interesting and useful initiatives for the benefit of German-Ukrainian relations.
During 5 years of partnership a lot has been achieved: many meetings, visits, exchanges have been held, and above all – important international projects have been implemented.
The first joint project of the Lippe District and Lutsk City was called “Democratic fundamental values of youth cultures in international comparison”. The project implementation included 2 visits to Lutsk and Lippe for the youth, representatives of the city authorities and organizations, that were working with the youth. The main goal of these visits was to get acquainted with youth policy of German partners.
In November 2018 the delegation comprised of 29 members from the Lippe District visited Lutsk, and in May 2019 the delegation comprised of 28 members from Lutsk visited Lippe. Project was implemented with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office.
The next steps to deepen the cooperation of the partners were the projects implemented with the involvement of grant funds of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through Engagement Global gGmbH.
Thus in 2017-2018 a remarkable project “Environment care across the borders” was implemented. The main project activities included: purchase of 130 containers for separate garbage collection for Lutsk, ecological festival “Green School”, an introductory visit of students and teachers of Lutsk schools to the Lippe District, development of the concept of waste management for Lutsk, informational and promotional campaign to encourage Lutsk residents to sort garbage. 40 114 Euro of the grant funds were spent for the activities implementation in Lutsk.
Topics for future cooperation between the Lippe District and Lutsk were outlined within implementation of the project "Chances of international municipal corporation – an active exchange of experience" — project for the exchange of experience for specialists in the fields of IT, economics, administrative services, security, waste management, municipal engineering. During two mirror visits to Lutsk and Lippe in November and December 2018, representatives of partners took part in round tables, meetings, exchanged best practices of municipal governece.
Another joint ambitious project of Lutsk and Lippe “Use of environmental and smart technologies in Lutsk public transport” is currently in the active phase of implementation . After its completion 9 “smart” bus stops and 22 “smart” boards is going to appear in the city. The structures will be equipped with modern technologies, including an electronic board, which will display information about the arrival of public transport, phone charging points, video surveillance cameras, solar panels. Among the other project activities: development of the Strategy for the development of public transport and transport infrastructure of the Lutsk сity territorial community until 2025, creation of the website “Smart Way”, painting of 20 trolleybuses and their ecological labeling, visits of transport specialists and city representatives from Lippe to Lutsk.
The partners have also been maintaining friendly twinning relations through participation in local events, which are usually the platforms for the emergence of new ideas for cooperation. In particular, the delegation of Lutsk city took part in the Days of hiking in the Lippe District in August 2018, and the delegation of the Lippe District - in the Day of Lutsk City, dedicated to the 590th anniversary of the Congress of European Monarchs in September 2019.
Implemented initiatives, numerous meetings and outlined plans give grounds to say that the Lippe District and Lutsk are pre for interesting and fruitful cooperation in the future.
