Research Project Title: Institutional Support for Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in the Context of Administrative-Territorial Reform (0117U004254)
Project Supervisor: Lyubov Mykhailova, Doctor of Economics, Professor
Completion Period: January 2017 – December 2019
Funding Amount: 600 thousand UAH
Conceptual approaches to managing the sustainable development of rural areas have been developed. These approaches are based on utilizing all its component assets: agricultural production, which creates the most essential material values – products for life support; intangible values: producing ecological and recreational services with preserved unique landscapes and cultural heritage, which is a prerequisite for the multifunctionality of rural development; implementing environmental initiatives of the population aimed at protecting the natural environment for future generations; forming, preserving, and developing human capital as a factor of economic growth for regions or the country.
Methodological foundations for forming a system of education management for amalgamated territorial communities have been developed, which are urgent in the context of administrative-territorial reform.
The main problems of entrepreneurship development and small-scale farming in rural areas have been generalized; indicators and key performance metrics for entrepreneurship development in rural areas have been defined; a methodology for developing an integrated sustainable rural development plan for a specific region has been elaborated.
A scientific basis for determining operational and strategic tools for managing the sustainable development of rural areas through the environmental channel has been developed. This was implemented by identifying short-term and long-term interrelationships between relevant environmental determinants and target indicators of sustainable development for defined territories.
The formation of an organizational and economic mechanism for stimulating the innovative development of rural infrastructure differs from existing ones by identifying three levels of the mechanism (macro-, meso-, micro-), localizing threats, opportunities, and positive and negative influencing factors on the functioning of this mechanism at each of its identified levels.
The methodological toolkit for strategic planning has been improved, with a mandatory determination of promising development directions and the justification of projects within each of them, considering the program and project orientation of community budgets and rural development strategies. The introduction of a project approach toolkit will ensure increased effectiveness of their implementation by defining quantitative and qualitative indicators of project implementation and justifying their sustainability.
Theoretical issues of using various financial instruments in the country’s agrarian economy in the face of globalization challenges have been further developed. Based on the assessment of their usage trends, innovative financial instruments have been systematized and distributed by financing areas.
A methodology for determining the strategy of sustainable development of the agricultural sector of the economy at the regional level has been developed. It is based on building a three-dimensional matrix with coordinates corresponding to the levels of ecological, economic, and social potentials of the administrative-territorial unit. This allowed for substantiating the tools for implementing the regional strategy of sustainable development of the agricultural sector of the economy, depending on the level of socio-ecological-economic potential.
The conceptual principles of strategic management of human capital development in agricultural formations have been substantiated. This is based on integrating a human development management model into the general model of economic growth, considering the specifics of implementing rural development programs that involve shifts in the structure of the rural economy and changes in the market position of enterprises in defined territories.
The expediency of implementing institutional changes in the system of managing the innovative development of rural areas has been proven through the formation of a state institution in the field of sustainable development. Its functional system will include improving information and consulting support for innovative activities in rural areas.
In the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, the following have been implemented: proposals for determining the most relevant social, economic, and environmental factors ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas (No. 37-18-11/536 dated 14.01.2019); methodology for ranking rural areas of the world’s countries and Ukraine (No. 37-18-15/9300 dated 08.04.2019). In the Department of Agro-Industrial Development of Sumy Regional State Administration: a system of information and consulting support for the development of innovative activities in rural areas (No. 01-17/969 dated 29.05.2019); methodology for developing an integrated rural development plan (No. 01-18/2165 dated 28.12.2019). Recommendations: “Creation of an education management system for amalgamated territorial communities” – by the Sumy Education Center of the State Employment Service; “Organization of environmental protection measures” – in Khomynska Village Council (No. 218 dated 12.12.2019).
