During March 1 – April 9, 2017, an online course ‘Local Development Projects Management’ was held on the web-platform of the Community of Practice for Local Development of the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine - DESPRO". Representatives of public authorities and civil society of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts were the participants of the training implemented by the Lviv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. 

The training took place at the request of the Lviv Oblast Council and the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast State Administration on the basis of the annual and most popular e-course held in the Community of Practice, which promotes the implementation of the project approach for community development. 

Partners included: the Association of Local Councils “Local Councils of Lviv Region” and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Center for Retraining and Advanced Training of employees of public authorities, local self-government bodies, public enterprises, institutions and organizations. The faculty staff members of the Chair of Management and Project Management of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Institute of Public Administration of NAPA were also involved in the organization of the training: they prepared the training materials for this course. 

The training began with introductory workshops in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, and ended with a presentation of the best project concepts developed during the course. The presentation took place in the framework of the scientific and practical conference with international participation: “Challenges of Public Administration Development in Ukraine”. 

121 participants from two oblasts have completed the e-course; they had the opportunity to raise their competence in project management and local development project preparation in order to submit an application to the competition for receiving financial support for projects from international technical assistance funds or the State Fund for Regional Development. The participants, who have successfully completed the training, received a Certificate of Advanced Training for Civil Servants / Local Self-Government Officials according to the program of the e-course “Local Development Projects Management”. 

The training participants thanked for the opportunity to improve their skills in a format, which is convenient for them, and stressed the relevance and importance of the eLearning, high-quality content and course support.