AVK free bike-rental at the art festival

Support from ECF's Leadership Programme and additional EU funding, has allowed the Kyiv Cyclists’ Association (AVK) to significantly improve on its work at the local and national level. 

Working to enhance the organisational development and cycling advocacy skills of promising leaders, the Leadership Programme is a great support system to fledgling organisations such as AVK.

National level

At the national level, AVK has played a key role in advising 5 cities across Ukraine in the design of cycling development programmes. Most of these cities are now only a step or two away from approving these programmes. Leading on from this, they have also been instrumental in recommendations to the Ministry of Regional Development on the planning of cycling infrastructure, suggestions which will soon be formalized in the national street design regulations.

Cyclists giving their demands to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klytchko

A key notion of the Leadership Programme is best-practice sharing. AVK has taken this well on board by reviewing EU national investments in cycling projects and bringing the evidence straight to the Ukrainian government.

To ensure knowledge dissemination on the regional level, AVK successfully organised the largest regional cycling conference, Veloforum, earlier this year. With over 150 participants from 7 countries, including 3 ECF representatives, the 3 day conference was a great example of best-practice sharing on the promotion of cycling.

Local level

On the local level, AVK has also had major progress by receiving strong endorsement from the city council. Thanks to their efforts during the election campaigns, AVK has succeeded in getting 4 mayoral candidates to include pro-cycling policies in their campaign. AVK has also been officially appointed as advisor to the Mayor on cycling, which will ensure they continue to have influence over the promotion of the Kyiv Cycling Development Program for 2015-2019.

Leadership Programme – boosting advocacy

The Leadership Programme grant and capacity building assistance has also helped AVK reach its organizational development goal of tripling its numbers to 300. Helping AVK build their advocacy capacity has more than paid off with their now strong voice harbouring trust from the local population and in general boosting the greater societal interest in cycling.