International Projects as a Tool to Promote the Development of Territorial Communities

Local initiatives are the most effective tool for ensuring sustainable development, because they are the closest to the needs of society and are able to take into account all aspects of the individuality, uniqueness and features of the territory. However, territorial communities are often financially insolvent to cover their needs at the expense of their own revenues. In such conditions the financial support from government, foreign and international organizations is very important. The purpose of the article is to analyze the most widespread international projects in Ukraine in the field of local development and to justify the significance of the participation of international donors. Areas of activity of territorial communities were singled out, which can be financed from the funds of foreign and international organizations. The main donors and spheres of international cooperation concerning the support of development of territorial communities were presented. 15 projects on support of territorial communities' development, which are embodied in the territory of Ukraine by international donors, were characterized. The dynamics and tendencies of financing of local projects from the State Regional Development Fund with the support of the European Union and the Swiss-Ukrainian DESPRO project were analyzed. Attention is focused on the Zakarpattia, Lviv and Ternopil regions, whose territorial communities realize more projects on terms of co-financing with the State Fund for Regional Development and its partners. The review of foreign and international organizations providing grant support for the socio-economic development of territorial communities in Ukraine was carried out. The main advantages and disadvantages of using funds from international donors have been established.