On June 2-3, a seminar was held in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi for employees of city, village and settlement councils of Volyn Oblast on the topic: "Experience of strategic planning of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi and prospects for involving citizens in decision-making at the local level". The event took place within the framework of the project "Dissemination and replication of successful strategic planning methodologies in the field of local self-government among heads of village and settlement councils of Volyn Oblast", which is being implemented by the Volyn Regional Fund of Investments and Development with the assistance of the Eurasia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of the visit was to familiarize representatives of 4 pilot communities of Volyn Oblast (the cities of Kamin-Kashyrskyi, Ustyluh, the urban-type settlement of Holoby and the urban-type settlement of Shatsk) with the current state of community development planning in Ukraine and to spread the experience of developing and implementing the strategic development plan of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi on Volyn land. The following spoke before the seminar participants: the city mayor of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Oleksandr Mazurchak, the head of the department of external economic relations, tourism, and comprehensive development of the Old City of the Kamianets-Podilskyi city executive committee, Viktor Travinskyi, and the head of the Agency for Economic Development, Ihor Lieposhkin. The city mayor invited those present to a constructive dialogue, demonstrating significant achievements in planning the socio-economic development of the community of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi. In particular, Oleksandr Mazurchak told the seminar participants about the experience of holding public hearings in the city on budget issues and problems of city microdistricts; familiarized those present with the development of provisions on citizens' assemblies at the place of residence; mechanisms for involving citizens in work in representative bodies of power through the creation of coordination councils and public collegiums. The mayor's account was interesting about the participation of the public in the development of local regulatory acts; the practice of creating the institute of an ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights and the principles of adjusting city council decisions through regular public expert assessments and public control over the state of improvement of city districts by dividing Kamianets-Podilskyi into so-called "prefectures". Ihor Lieposhkin told those present about the history of the creation and implementation of the strategic plan for the economic development of the city until 2005. In the document, the community identified 4 main directions of city development: tourism, revival and development of industrial enterprises, development of small and medium-sized businesses, reorganization of medicine. The process of creating the strategic plan for the economic development of the city led to a lively dialogue between representatives of the "third sector" and local self-government bodies; in particular, fruitful cooperation made it possible to win and successfully implement 14 projects in Kamianets-Podilskyi financed by international donor organizations. Today, representatives of local self-government bodies of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi actively cooperate with the "Vidrodzhennia" foundation, the Kennan Institute, the "Counterpart" alliance, and have concluded international agreements with the cities of Athens (USA), Kalisz, Sanok, Warsaw-Targówek (Poland), Polotsk (Belarus), and Edineț (Moldova). Public organizations and in particular the "Party of Revival of Kamianets-Podilskyi" are participants in many programs, including the "Community Partnership" program. Thanks to the pooling of efforts of the city authorities, public organizations and broad circles of the public, in the recent period alone direct foreign investments in the amount of 4.3 million US dollars were attracted to the city's economy, and a total of 16 enterprises of the city were invested in. During the seminar, a lively dialogue took place between colleagues from both oblasts regarding opportunities for improving management in their communities.