Program to support local initiatives is launched in Bashkortostan

UFA, 28 April 2016. /Bashinform News Agency, Galina Bakhshieva/. In Bashkortostan a program to support local initiatives is launched. The program start was announced at the first meeting of the working group on development of proactive budgeting mechanisms in the region held in the Government of the Republic. The working group is headed by the Prime Minister of the Government of Bashkortostan Rustem Mardanov.

"The program to support local initiatives is a mechanism that allows quickly identifying and effectively addressing the most pressing social issues at the local level with the active participation of the population. Focus is on local infrastructure: repairing roads, cultural centres, organization of water supply, lighting and landscaping ", said the head of the program to support local initiatives of the World Bank Ivan Shulga.

It is important that projects are selected on a competitive basis on a number of criteria. In particular, the projects are selected by the community members at a general meeting. In addition, they should be jointly prepared by the initiative group of local residents and administration of the settlement, as well as provided with co-financing by the public, local businesses and completed within one calendar year.

Currently similar projects are successfully implemented in more than 80 countries. The Russian program to support local initiatives is in operation since 2007 in eight regions, including Bashkortostan. However, it reached the republican scale just now, the press service of Bashkortostan Government reports.

Annual funding from the republican budget for the implementation of projects aimed at development of social infrastructure will be up to 300 million rubles at the sum of not more than 1 million per each application.

The specially created for this purpose Centre for Civil Initiatives in the Academy of Sciences of Bashkortostan will perform a coordinating role in implementation of programs in the republic.