New Approaches to Funding: Kryvyi Rih Raion Communities Complete the Fifth Module of the Project Management School

July 23, 2026

Representatives of communities from Kryvyi Rih Raion took part in the fifth training module of the Project Management School, held in Cherkasy. The module, titled "Preparing an Investment Project: National Requirements and Practical Tools," focused on strengthening the capacity of local communities to develop high-quality investment projects capable of attracting national and international funding.

The training was delivered within the framework of the project KRYTSIA: Support for the Recovery of Kryvyi Rih Raion, funded by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and implemented by LuxDev, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency, in partnership with Proman and NDI.

Over two days, participants explored modern approaches to strategic planning and public investment management. The sessions were led by:

Yuliia Bodashevska, Expert in Municipal Governance and European Integration;
Artem Tymchenko, Leading Project Administration Specialist at the Kryvyi Rih City Development Institute.

The central focus of the module was Ukraine’s transition to European standards for preparing public investment projects. According to Artem Tymchenko, having a good idea is no longer enough to secure funding — projects must be evidence-based, strategically aligned, and developed in line with national and international requirements.

Alongside practical work in the DREAM ecosystem, participants learned about international approaches to public investment management. Yuliia Bodashevska introduced Ukraine’s Public Investment Management (PIM) reform and international frameworks, including the IMF’s PIMA methodology, OECD recommendations, and the Ukraine Facility. Participants also explored successful practices from Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, applied the Five Case Model for investment project development, and examined how community development strategies should be linked with medium-term public investment planning.

The knowledge gained throughout the School is already being translated into concrete initiatives. Alina Maltseva, a representative of the Kryvyi Rih Raion State Administration, shared plans to apply the newly acquired expertise to the development of a Dialogue Hub project.

“The Project Management School provides us with the most important thing — an understanding of how to transform ideas into projects that are ready for financing. I hope the knowledge and experience we gained from our trainers will help us successfully implement the Dialogue Hub project. It is envisioned as a modern space serving residents of all 15 communities of Kryvyi Rih Raion — more than 700,000 people. Our priority is to make it inclusive and barrier-free, ensuring equal access to services and improving the quality of life for everyone we serve,” she said.

The Project Management School continues to equip communities with practical tools to transform local development needs into well-designed, investment-ready projects, strengthening their ability to attract resources for long-term recovery and sustainable development.

A project must be thoroughly prepared: it should clearly define the problem, demonstrate its alignment with development strategies, justify the proposed solution, assess costs, benefits, risks, and expected impact on people. This represents a new approach: preparation, evidence, transparency, and evaluation come first, while financing and implementation follow. During the module, we explored how communities can move from saying 'we need funding' to presenting well-prepared, competitive investment projects. We also focused on the DREAM ecosystem, which helps make projects transparent and understandable for the government, local communities, donors, and international financial institutions

Artem Tymchenko, Leading Project Administration Specialist at the Kryvyi Rih City Development Institute