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Good practice Imported

Bridges of Trust — EU-Ukraine Municipal Twinning for Reconstruction

Ukraine · Kyiv · See the Ukraine profile · See the Kyiv profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 39% 71/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

CEMR and the Association of Ukrainian Cities paired 30 Ukrainian municipalities with 30 EU counterparts for reconstruction-focused peer learning, producing 48 joint project proposals and formal partnership agreements in two-thirds of pairs.

30
Study visits conducted (2023 phase)
48
Joint project proposals co-developed
80%
Partnerships with moderate-to-high interaction
67%
Partnerships with formal agreements in place
Bridges of Trust — EU-Ukraine Municipal Twinning for Reconstruction

Details

Promoter
Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) & Association of Ukrainian Cities
Period
2021–ongoing
Keywords
local government, municipal twinning, reconstruction, decentralisation

Context

Ukraine's 2022 full-scale war left many municipalities needing reconstruction support. Bridges of Trust, launched in 2021 by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) with the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the U-LEAD with Europe programme (GIZ), pairs Ukrainian municipalities with EU counterparts for reconstruction-focused peer learning.

Objectives

To broker peer-to-peer municipal partnerships that help Ukrainian cities plan and finance reconstruction, using structured twinning facilitated through national municipal associations.

Activities

In its 2023 phase, 30 Ukrainian municipalities from 10 regions were paired with 30 EU municipalities in Italy, France, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia, Czechia and Sweden, coordinated through 10 national municipal associations. Pairs conducted study visits and worked jointly on reconstruction project proposals.

Results

30 study visits were conducted and 48 joint project proposals were co-developed, including 20 water-supply/wastewater facilities and 8 hospital or cultural-facility reconstructions. 80% of partnerships reached moderate-to-high interaction and 67% had formal partnership agreements in place. CEMR reports more than 100 cumulative partnerships since 2021.

Conclusions

The model demonstrates that structured municipal twinning can be organised at pace during wartime, but CEMR itself notes that wartime conditions limit systematic institutionalisation, and there is no public data on how many of the 48 proposals were actually funded or built.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
CEMR programme coordinators, Association of Ukrainian Cities staff, 10 national municipal associations, U-LEAD with Europe (GIZ) support team

Conditions for success

  • Facilitation through established national municipal associations on both sides
  • Structured study-visit format to build trust before joint proposal work
  • A recognisable joint deliverable (a project proposal) to anchor each pairing

Common failure modes

  • Wartime conditions limiting systematic institutionalisation of partnerships
  • No confirmed funding or construction pathway for the majority of the 48 proposals

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Interreg (European Territorial Cooperation)

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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