Mamaivtsi municipality in the Chernivtsi region is updating its development strategy to address the challenges of war, encourage residents to return, and prepare for post-war recovery by turning the strategy into a practical management tool. Its experience demonstrates how strategic planning, a unified project portfolio, and public investment management can help communities make people-centred decisions and deliver tangible results.

There are 52 municipalities in Chernivtsi Oblast. 51 of them already have an approved development strategy, whilst one more is finalising its one.

For most municipalities in the region, however, the coming years will be a period of updating strategic documents: more than two-thirds of the current strategies will expire as early as 2027. The full-scale war has forced municipalities to reassess many previously defined priorities, seek new approaches to development and take a different view of the future of their territories. In these processes, the oblast’s municipalities are receiving expert support from U-LEAD with Europe, notably in matters of strategic planning, building project portfolios and managing public investment. Among those working to update their vision for the future is the rural municipality of Mamaivtsi.

For their team, updating the strategy was more than just a formal compliance exercise; it was an opportunity to honestly answer the question of what sort of municipality they want to be in the future, and what needs to be done today to make that future a reality.

Mamaivtsi adopted their previous development strategy back in 2017.

“In 2020, nine more settlements joined our municipality. The previous strategy clearly no longer reflected the new situation. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war have brought about further changes. But a municipality always needs a roadmap for development — to understand where we are heading, what goals we are setting and how we will achieve them,” says Nataliia Katriuk, the Head of Mamaivtsi Village Council.

And so, the municipality began work on a new strategic document. This process also drew on Mamaivtsi’s long-standing experience of working with U-LEAD. Notably, between January and June 2026, a local self-government official has been taking part in the Comprehensive Support Programme “Updating the Municipal Development Strategy”, which aims to assist the municipality in updating its strategic documents in line with today’s challenges. According to Ms Katriuk, expert support, training sessions and the opportunity to share experiences with other municipalities helped both to draft strategic documents and to better identify development priorities and assess the viability of prospective solutions.

People are the municipality’s greatest resource

One of the main tasks during the update of the document, Ms Katriuk shares, was encouraging people to return:

“The key point was to find effective approaches that would help bring people back home from abroad.”

Prior to the full-scale invasion, there had been active efforts here to develop entrepreneurship. These efforts resulted, amongst other things, in around 180 sole traders formalising their businesses and starting to operate officially. “For us, this was a major victory. It meant that people had placed their trust in the authorities, believed in the municipality’s development, and had confidence that they were on the right path,” says Ms Katriuk.

However, the war forced a shift in the situation. Some entrepreneurs suspended their activities, some people left the country, and others were forced to seek new business opportunities in other regions. That is why, today, the focus is on creating the conditions for residents to return and developing new job opportunities. At the same time, social support and healthcare services have become significantly more important.

“Today, social support and healthcare are the priority. We can see just how much people’s mental health has suffered,” says the head of the municipality.

For Ms Katriuk, municipal development is about more than just infrastructure or the economy. She places great emphasis on ensuring that people are not left to face their problems alone:

“When a person knows they are not alone with their problem, when they realise they will be heard, they view both their own difficulties and the challenges facing the municipality in a completely different light.”

Young people who should feel motivated to return

When updating the policy, special considerations were given to schoolchildren.

“We worked with secondary school students to understand what might motivate them to return to the municipality after finishing their studies and build their future right here,” says Ms Katriuk. To this end, they used questionnaires, meeting sessions and discussions. The municipal team sought to identify the opportunities young people need and what might encourage them to stay connected to their home town.

“This strategy is as people-centred as possible, focusing on their needs. People are at the very heart of it,” emphasises the head of the municipality. “The strategy is intended to serve as a guiding document for those who will work after us and carry on towards the goals set by the municipality.”

The process of updating the strategy involved the local self-government officials, starostas, members of the local council, business sector, the broader public, young people and other members of the municipality. The municipal team worked extensively in small focus groups, discussing both current needs and a long-term vision for development. Participants in the discussions were asked to answer a simple question: Where do they see the municipality in 5, 10 and 15 years’ time? These discussions helped to shape a shared vision of the future and identify priorities that underlie the updated document.

Success stories and lessons learnt

Whilst updating the strategy, the team analysed not only its achievements, but also its mistakes.

“There were times when we realised that certain decisions should have been thought through more carefully. This was an important lesson that we kept in mind when updating our strategy,” says Ms Katriuk. “For example, certain decisions regarding the development of entrepreneurship and competition between businesses eventually needed to be reconsidered.”

These lessons in particular helped us to take a more critical look at new priorities and future decisions.

The case of Mamaivtsi municipality shows that municipalities should not be afraid to review their own approaches and adjust their priorities. The conditions in which they operate today differ significantly from those of a few years ago. Consequently, the ability to adapt to change and honestly assess past experience is becoming no less important than having a strategy in the first place.

When strategic planning works

The effectiveness of strategic planning in Mamaivtsi municipality is assessed on the basis of concrete results. According to Ms Katriuk, 23 of the 25 strategic objectives set out in the previous document have been achieved.

These include developing sports infrastructure, introducing smart school initiatives, establishing a rehabilitation centre for children and young people with disabilities and setting up a Safety Centre.

The latter is a point of great pride for the municipality. Its creation was inspired by one of the study visits organised by U-LEAD with Europe. As part of an exchange of experiences with municipalities in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the head of Mamaivtsi municipality learnt about the use of the Digital Suitcase of the Administrative Services Centre, a mobile unit for delivering administrative services off-site. She then realised that setting up a Safety Centre would be a more relevant move for the municipality.

“I realised that the ‘suitcase’ wasn’t our priority. Instead, we came up with the idea of setting up a Safety Centre. Today, it is the only Safety Centre of its kind in Chernivtsi Oblast,” says Ms Katriuk. “Projects like this highlight the value of strategic planning. After all, people are interested in the outcome. What they care about is what they can see and what they can use on a daily basis.”

From strategy to projects

Still, the policy itself does not guarantee change. What matters is turning it into real projects — and that is what the municipality team is working on today.

Daria Mikitsel, a Chief Specialist for Investment Development and Digital Transformation at Mamaivtsi Village Council, explains:

“The first few months of work have proven that managing public investment requires a systematic approach and constant coordination between all the municipality’s departments.”

According to her, a high-quality project begins long before the funding is secured. In practice, this implies ongoing collaboration between various departments, from the initial conception stage to finalising documentation and identifying funding sources.

“We see potential in developing medium-term planning and even more extensive collaboration between all departments within the local self-government body. This will ensure better alignment between the municipality’s strategic goals, public investment priorities and the projects included in the Unified Project Portfolio. This kind of collaboration can transform strategic priorities into tangible projects that are ready for implementation and for securing funding,” concludes Ms Mikitsel.

Officials of Mamaivtsi municipality are currently also taking part in a U-LEAD training programme on “Public Investment Management in a Municipality”, where they are developing practical skills in drawing up a medium-term plan for priority public investments, preparing investment projects and working with the information and analytical system for public investment management.

The strategy defines the “what”, whilst the project portfolio illustrates the “how”

This is where the strategy ceases to be merely a municipal document and becomes a management tool. According to Viktoriia Cheban, the Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Chernivtsi Oblast, recent years have fundamentally changed municipalities’ approaches to development planning:

“Most municipalities in Bukovyna region had approved their development strategies even before the full-scale war began. However, new challenges have forced them to rethink many of their approaches and priorities. A strategy should not just be a document gathering dust on a shelf. It must serve as the framework for the municipality’s day-to-day management decisions.”

Consequently, at the local level, growing efforts are being made to establish a Unified Project Portfolio and to implement new approaches to managing public investment.

“The strategy specifies what exactly the municipality aims to achieve. The Unified Project Portfolio provides insight into how these goals will be accomplished. The strategy sets the direction for the municipality’s progress. And the Public Investment Portfolio is designed to ensure these goals are reached through specific projects and investment decisions,” explains Ms Cheban.

This planning approach helps municipalities transition from isolated initiatives to systematic territorial development management.

According to Ms Cheban, the experience of Mamaivtsi municipality showcases how a development strategy, a unified project portfolio and public investment management can function as a single integrated system: “From shaping a vision for the future together with residents to developing specific projects — all these stages are intertwined and reinforce one another. This approach can serve as a useful example today for other municipalities working to update their development strategies.”

Planning for the future despite adversity

The municipality accepts that nobody can predict the exact challenges they will face in a few years’ time. Nevertheless, they are already thinking about the people who will return home after the war.

“When we discuss the municipality’s future, we are also talking about veterans. We need to work out today what services will be required, what employment opportunities we should create, and how to help people return to an active life. After the war, many of our defenders will return with injuries. Our task is to create opportunities for them to work, to feel needed and to know that the municipality appreciates their contribution,” says Ms Katriuk.

Therefore, when updating the strategy, they paid close attention not only to infrastructure and economic development, but also to employment, access to services, rehabilitation and support for military families.

With this in mind, Mamaivtsi team continues to plan for the future despite numerous unanswered questions. Indeed, for the municipality of Mamaivtsi, the strategy is more than just a document or a list of projects. It is, first and foremost, an attempt to prepare today for the challenges of tomorrow and to foster an environment encouraging people to live, work and build their future within their municipality.

This work is perhaps best summed up by Ms Katriuk’s words:

“Should we do nothing, make no plans, nor look to the future, what other hope for life could we possibly have?”