On November 15, some of the most creative and boldest in creative and technological solutions representatives of the expert and cultural environment of the Carpathian region visited Biloberezka.

 

 

 

 

 

Why?

 

 

 

Biloberezka AH unites three mountain villages – Biloberezka, Usteriki and Khorotsevo, with magnificent landscapes, interesting history, great cultural potential, and most importantly – active and educated like-minded leaders. This is a fairly compact mountain community – about 43 sq. km of area. For comparison – Kosmatska AH of the neighboring Kosiv district has an average area of ​​100 sq. km. At the same time, Biloberezka and neighboring villages are quite sparsely populated – 64 people per 1 sq. km. For comparison – on average, about 194 people live in Kosmatska AH per 1 sq. km. Unlike other mountain settlements of Ivano-Frankivsk region, which stretch mainly along the river, Biloberezka community stretches far inland along mountain ranges. This very sprawl of settlements among forests and mountain ranges makes the community fantastically interesting, encouraging it to explore and discover new unexplored places. Accordingly, the community is interested in developing sustainable tourism based on its own cultural and natural heritage.

 

 

 

BILOBEREZKA – the Hutsul name of the AH can become a tourist brand of this territory. Let's not focus on our neighbors - let's become the best in the world in something. Yarema Stetsyk

 

 

Integrating experts into the AH environment was one of the tasks of the project of the Agency for the Development of Private Initiatives "Democracy and Community Development through Understanding and Development of Local Heritage". Personal acquaintance of experts with residents, natural and cultural objects of AHs Biloberezka and Pechenizhyn (a visit of experts to Pechenizhyn is planned for the end of November this year) should increase interest in communities from experienced creative specialists who are able to join in the implementation of their strategic goals at any time. Also, the vision and recommendations of experts "from the first mouth" will help local leaders make the most interesting, non-trivial and optimal solutions for development.

 

 

 

What happened?

 

Six recognized experts in their field visited Biloberezka at the same time, for whom the representatives of the AH prepared their own vision of their potential in terms of culture and economy and organized a tour of the most interesting places in the AH.

 

Project experts

 

Andriy Dyomin an authorized dealer in Ukraine for Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH. Project Manager for the Borzhavski Polonyny projects, development manager for the Chornohory, Smotrich, Afriski Lesotho Africa and Bukovel projects.

 

Rostyslav Derzhypilskyi a recognized director, People's Artist of Ukraine, director of the Ivano-Frankivsk Academic Music and Drama Theater named after Ivan Franko, general director of the PORTO FRANKO project.

 

 

Oleksiy Zobkiv  a young Frankivsk architect, known for his bold architectural ideas. He is the author of the project of infrastructure elements on the Shyrkovets swamp in the village of Vyhoda, Dolynskyi district.

 

Yarema Stetsyk  an Ivano-Frankivsk artist, musician and designer, a versatile artist. One of the founders of the cult rock band "Perkalaba". 

 

 

Oksana Fedorovych  the head of the Tourist Association of Ivano-Frankivsk Region, an expert in tourism development, local and regional development, and strategic planning of territories. Developer and top manager of large international infrastructure development projects for the Ivano-Frankivsk region and the Carpathian region of Europe, including the creation of the Vyhodsk Narrow Gauge Heritage Center and the Eco-Tourist Visit Center in Yaremche.

 

 

Rostyslav Shpuk  an entrepreneur, creative photographer, and famous blogger. He is one of the central figures in the art world of Ivano-Frankivsk.

 

 

The experts, accompanied by the village head and AH deputies, set off along the mountain road to Pysany Kamen (1221 m above sea level), one of the most interesting places in the Carpathians, inspected the surrounding landscapes, and saw the potential for creating new infrastructure facilities for the development of tourism.

 

The community has a unique resource – landscapes that are simply created for viewing and training. All that remains is to create conditions for active recreation for families with children. Andriy Dyomin

 

 

In the afternoon, we summed up our thoughts, impressions, and new ideas. This format of meetings, when diverse creators, whose activities concern diametrically opposed spheres, simultaneously immerse themselves in the community environment, was first organized by the Agency team and was an experiment from beginning to end. In any case, we were counting on a positive effect from direct acquaintance between the community and diverse experts. But by the end of the dizzying excursions and tough brainstorming sessions, we had a very clear picture of the possible tourist future of Biloberezka. In the dialogues, dozens of ideas and thoughts about what to do, with what, and with whom were heard and filtered. These thoughts and ideas have been swarming in the heads of local leaders for several years. It was worth hearing someone else who has a different vision, knowledge, and practice of realizing crazy dreams. A development catalyst workshop is how this format can be briefly defined.  

 

 

 

Magnets

 

The key to development is creating conditions and opportunities for people to make their own territory flourish, as well as to change their own lives for the better. Therefore, the role of local government is to clearly define strategic directions, attract investments or invest in development projects themselves. We are talking about heritage. And in this case, we use the term - the economy of heritage, which can be both tangible and intangible.

 

We consider heritage as something that needs to be not only preserved, but also opened to the world, interpreted and encouraged to come to the area, where you can get acquainted with this heritage object like nowhere else (tangible or not - it doesn’t matter). We are talking about creating magnets to attract and retain people, creating for them the need and irresistible desire to spend money and at the same time be enriched… with impressions and new, previously unknown experiences. Moreover, a person can get this experience only here. I know examples when such magnets were created in other countries and made territories successful literally out of thin air.

 

So, in the context of decentralization, we, as experts, see it as our task to teach leaders of ATCs to properly manage, including the potential of heritage, so that they can create magnets for their territories, then business will get involved by itself - it will build a sphere of services and new impressions around magnets. This is the path of successful communities around the world. Oksana Fedorovych

 

 

What could happen next?

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the villages has its own identity, which it cannot lose as a result of the administrative reform. And thanks to the created magnets and successful promotion, it is possible to preserve the recognizability of the names of villages that are already hundreds of years old. For example, Usteriki is a unique place where the Black and White Cheremoshi merge. Therefore, it is important to preserve what is, while simultaneously creating and promoting something new. This is the local open-air workshop of carvers, initiated by the owners of the estate "Khata rizbyara" (the first open-air workshop took place in September 2017 in Biloberezka).

 

 

The promotion should be noticeable. It is important to photograph everything alive, dynamic that the territory offers. Find those who do it best and hold a competition for the best photo for those who will live among this beauty. Carving is a way to glorify the area. Rostyslav Shpuk

 

The boldness of plans and their visualization - this is where the movement towards the result begins. This idea united each of the talented experts in a particular field, who gathered to present recommendations to the active population of the village of Biloberezka regarding their future within the daylight hours. The catalyst workshop was held far from in the round table hall - at the desks of a school classroom (the AH, at the moment, lacks a meeting room). However, this first pancake did not curl up in a frying pan, but even turned out to be a culinary delicacy. Each of the experts confirmed their readiness to continue working with the community in transforming the potential of local heritage into the basis for the economic prosperity of this small AH. 

 

 

From this moment on, the first violin belongs to strong and sincere Hutsuls, who have the authority to make decisions for the development of the community - the village head Dmytro Ivanyuk and the deputies of the Biloberizka ATC.

 

Recommendations and ideas from experts were obtained thanks to the project of the Agency for Private Initiative Development, which is implemented within the framework of the all-Ukrainian project "Support for Decentralization in Ukraine", which is administered by the All-Ukrainian OPORA Network with the support of the Embassy of Great Britain in Ukraine. 

 

 

The Agency will soon prepare a manual for communities on local heritage management, where the catalyst workshop tested in Biloberezka on November 15, 2017, will be presented as one of the mechanisms for activating the economic potential of local heritage. The manual should become a practical tool for community leaders in identifying and interpreting such heritage and managing development products based on tangible and intangible treasures bequeathed to the community, and not only… The manual will provide the advantages of using heritage in tourism as a sector of the economy, the legal prerequisites for protecting cultural and natural heritage sites and creating and managing interpretative sites, as well as the importance of preserving and correctly interpreting heritage for enhancing the educational level. The book will also contain the best examples of using local heritage for economic development in the world and in Ukraine, and other relevant topics.

 

 

The project will last until December 31, 2017. For young people who live actively in conditions of decentralization, it is also planned to organize a debate tournament in the pre-New Year weeks, the judges of which will be… adult debaters - the village head, elders, deputies and activists of the Pechenizhyn and Bila Berezhny Autonomous Communities. The topics for the debates will be controversial and practical, which in the interpretation of the ATC schoolchildren will be able to further crystallize ideas on using the potential of local heritage for the development of communities.