LocationsFrom Theory to Millions: How project management helps improve life in the Pryluky Community
April 3, 2026
The Pryluky City Territorial Community in Chernihiv Oblast attracted UAH 160 million after completing project management training provided by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Japan as part of a pilot project on local recovery planning. The training benefited the team of the municipal enterprise “Posluha”, which deals with public amenities and waste collection, helping them to raise extra-budgetary funds for the first time in 15 years, as well as the local museum, which was able to upgrade its storage infrastructure and establish further cooperation with donors. Overall, the community has already obtained UAH 160 million from various donor organisations for the projects outlined in its Recovery and Development Plan.
A Foundation for Change: How the recovery plan is turning Pryluky into a community of the future
Deputy Mayor Oleksandr Syvenko noted that, with the support of UNDP and the Government of Japan, the community co-created a Recovery and Development Plan alongside local residents and civil society organisations. This document has become the foundation of the community’s development strategy through 2030.
“The plan allowed us to participate in various grant projects and programmes, and in particular to obtain funding for those projects that are included in the Recovery Plan,” Syvenko said. “With the help of the plan, we made the most of the opportunity to attract grant funding. The housing and utilities sector, as well as culture and healthcare, have been particularly effective in raising extra-budgetary funds.”
Using the recovery plan as a basis for attracting funds allows the community to clearly account to partners and residents for every hryvnia that has been attracted.
According to Syvenko, the community's 2026 agenda includes the ongoing modernisation of medical facilities and the construction of protective structures in schools. Key infrastructure projects will also address municipal waste, wastewater management, and the stability of heat and water supplies.
“When we improve living conditions in Pryluky, people consider it not an achievement but (getting to) the basic level that they should be at,” Syvenko said. “I hope for further cooperation with UNDP and international partners to do even more for the community.”
Training turns ideas into funding
With funding from the Government of Japan, UNDP provided the Pryluky Local History Museum with equipment to digitise exhibits, along with specialized furniture for the museum’s storage facilities.
“Our museum has more than 68,000 exhibits, some of which are not displayed because there is a constant risk of attacks and fire,” said the museum’s director, Tetiana Zots.
“For us, heritage demonstrates the depth of our history. Technical equipment for digitisation and improving the material base is about creating proper storage conditions for the collection and providing access for people from all over the world to our heritage.”
According to Zots, discussions about the need to digitise exhibits had been ongoing since 2011.
“With the support of UNDP we were able to move forward on this issue, and we have already digitised about 2,000 exhibits,” she said.
The exhibits are being digitised by the youngest employee of the institution – 16-year-old Myroslava Shevel.
“It is very easy to work with the equipment provided by UNDP,” Shevel said. “I’ve got everything I need for my work. If there’s no electricity, we have a charging station, so it doesn’t stop me. My work is important – I’m doing it for the people and to preserve our culture.”
Zots also completed project management training organised by UNDP and the Government of Japan. She said the training helped her write grant applications for the museum’s development, and that the institution had now received support from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.
She said that the total amount of funding raised for the museum has already reached UAH 3.8 million, and that she now advises her colleagues on how to write grant applications that get noticed.
“When I write an application, I remember everything the UNDP team taught me,” Zots said. “I like the idea of people having to be at the centre of any project, and that my project must be useful specifically for people. Now cultural institutions have a chance to be heard.”
'Thanks to UNDP training, I found out what I want to do in life’
The leadership qualities of applicants who lead budget institutions play the most important role in project management, said Olena Kanavets, Chief Specialist for Investment Activities of the Pryluky City Council, who has worked with projects and grants in the community for more than 17 years.
“It’s impossible to force people to do something. If a person is passionate, sees the goal and lives for it, they’ll get results,” Kanavets said, introducing project manager Valentyna Trokhymenko.
Trokhymenko joined the “Posluha” municipal enterprise at the end of 2023. She admitted that she knew almost nothing about project management.
“I didn’t know how to write applications before,” Trokhymenko said. “UNDP gave me such a powerful start! The mentors managed to interest me and taught me to think on a large scale, and thanks to the UNDP training I found out what I want to do in life. I didn’t stop there – I’m continuing to deepen my knowledge and am now also studying English so as to have more opportunities. During this time, I’ve attracted about UAH 7 million hryvnias for our enterprise – the first grant funding in the last 15 years.”
The first project implemented by Trokhymenko was waste sorting in the community: she developed the project and secured assistance from several organisations. Thanks to support from UNDP and the Government of Japan, the community purchased containers for waste sorting. These have now been installed at 30 locations across the city, and another 20 will soon be set up and opened in partnership with Expertise France, the French government agency for international technical cooperation.
The next project – which is already in the process of implementation – is to obtain a waste collection vehicle for separate waste collection.
“The recycling system is the near future,” Trokhymenko said. “We have an investment programme that includes the purchase of a press for compressing plastic and paper.”
“With the arrival of the vehicle in March 2026, we will be able to collect this separated waste from the sites, bring it to the processing facility and compress it. This will create new jobs and additional funds for the development of the enterprise. And when we earn this money and later spend it on installing such sites, it will partly motivate people, because these funds will go towards improving their neighbourhoods. Moreover, people can already see that where such sites are installed it is clean, comfortable and convenient.”
She also plans to open community reuse centres and launch an “eco-bus” for the mobile collection of household appliances and equipment
“Before the training I didn’t pay attention to accessibility and inclusion,” Trokhymenko said. “But now I’m convinced that all sites have to be level, without kerbs, so that anyone – whether it’s a person with a pram or someone in a wheelchair, or an older person – can use them freely.”
Through the work of Trokhymenko and other local officials, Pryluky has demonstrated that with project management knowledge and support, a community can transform the challenges of war into opportunities for sustainable development.
Since 2023, UNDP, with financial support from the Government of Japan, has been providing comprehensive assistance to Ukrainian communities. In the first stage, 10 pilot territorial communities took part in the project. In 2024 the initiative was expanded, with another 20 communities from all regions of Ukraine joining.
As part of this support, the 10 pilot communities have already developed strategic planning documents and anti-corruption programmes, individual communication strategies, completed project management training, and strengthened their capacity in strategic communications, media literacy and countering disinformation.
Several community recovery and development projects were supported by UNDP with financial support from Japan through the procurement of required equipment. Thanks to this support, communities have not only enhanced their institutional capacity, but have also successfully attracted funding to implement practical initiatives.
Photo credit: Stanislav Pantelei / UNDP in Ukraine
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