Yesterday, December 24, in the city of Lutsk, the Volyn Regional Fund for Investment and Development held a "round table" on the topic "Prospects and Realities of Public Participation in Community Strategic Planning Processes." Representatives of local self-government bodies, executive authorities, and public organizations of the region took part in the event. This public initiative took place within the framework of the project "Activation of Participation in the Socio-Economic Life of Territorial Community Residents Through Their Influence on the Decision-Making Process by Government Bodies Regarding Local Development Issues," which is being implemented by the Volyn Regional Fund for Investment and Development with the support of the "Eurasia" Foundation. The purpose of the event was to establish the exchange of experience and establish partnership relations between representatives of the "third sector," local self-government bodies, and the executive authority, and to develop recommendations for achieving practical results from the implementation of projects aimed at involving the public in community processes. In particular, during this event, the participants of the "round table" discussed the problems of developing a development strategy for local communities with the active participation of citizens, improving governance in local government bodies, effective interaction in local communities, and the application of project management and consulting approaches in rural communities. The executive director of the VRFRID, Yurii Kresak, spoke with information about the main tasks of the project. According to Mr. Kresak, the strategic community development plan is valuable because it is drawn up by various parties – representatives of local self-government bodies and the territorial community, which ensures the absence of possible imbalances between the interests of both parties. In turn, according to the deputy head of the main department of economy of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Liudmyla Silich, in addition to the VRFRID project, work has begun in our region on the implementation of the EU project "Providing Assistance to Regional Development in Ukraine," which is being implemented with the support of the economy department of the Volyn Regional State Administration. As noted by a participant of the "round table," deputy of the Volyn Regional Council Volodymyr Banada, the problem of real public participation in resolving strategic issues of territorial community development depends on the level of relations between the structures of the regional state administration and local self-government bodies. Also, according to Mr. Banada, at present about 100 community development programs are operating in our region, but given the intertwining of local strategic development projects with central ones, there is a problem of the absence of funding from the regional budget for the implementation of the latter. Also, during the "round table," a presentation of the VRFRID project took place within the framework of the Eurasia Foundation program "Strengthening Rural and Settlement Communities."