OREANDA-NEWS. DTEK has won the Grand-Prix of international CSR experts for the case study in establishing local development agencies in Ukraine. The company ranked first in the "Best Contribution to National Development" according to editors-in-chief of Ukrainian business media and the "Best Non-Financial Report" according to Readers' Choice Award.

The experts from the UK, the USA, Israel, Spain, Russia and Hungary picked the winners of the national contest in CSR business studies. DTEK's programme for setting up local development agencies won the Grand-Prix as it helps to "raise extra funds for the projects focused on improving living standards, developing entrepreneurship, addressing municipal infrastructure issues, and engaging local communities." Also, editors-in-chief of Ukrainian business media awarded the first prize to the case study for the "Best Contribution to National Development".

The experts announced the winners of Readers' Choice Awards for non-financial reporting. This year over 30 companies participated in the contest, including Nestle, SCM, ISD, Astarta, Ad InBev, Galnaftogaz, DTEK, Interpipe, Platinum Bank, EY, Edipress Ukraine, life:), Nibulon, KPMG, etc. DTEK ranked first with its "Era of Sustainable Growth. Future Outlines" sustainability report 2010-2011, and SCM came second with the short version of SCM Group sustainability report "Working Together. Winning Together".

"The recent events in Ukraine have shown that the low level of people's trust in government and business quickly and adversely affects the economy in general and business in particular. DTEK's shareholder Rinat Akhmetov has set us a goal to make the regions of our operations most comfortable for living and ensure the efficient cooperation of business and society. A local development agency is a solution uniting the goals of business, communities and local authorities, thus creating a new value and benefit for everyone. Such agencies help to create new jobs, new taxpayers to local budgets and develop social infrastructure so that everybody wins," emphasised Aleksandr Tolkach, DTEK's Director for External Affairs.

"The national contest of CSR case studies has been promoting the best CSR practices since 2009, having collected over 200 case studies so far, with more than 40 in 2013. The international experts have recognised DTEK's programme for establishing local development agencies for its comprehensive approach to CSR and contribution to the regional and national development," said Marina Saprykina, contest organiser and head of CSR Development Centre.

The conference also featured a discussion of social partnership between business, government and society, where DTEK and its partners shared the experience of creating and running the agencies and discussed the expectations of society.

"The European practice of the last 40 years proves that local development agencies are an efficient and inexpensive tool to develop local communities. The impressive two-year performance in Burshtyn is a clear evidence that the model works for Ukraine even amid the current challenging conditions. This has been possible thanks to the reliable partner DTEK, the mayor's political will and engagement of professionals," commented Aleksandr Babiy, Director of Local Development Agency in Burshtyn, Ivano-Frankovsk Oblast.

Local development agencies supported by DTEK operate in 14 cities. Their key goal is to advise SME, assist in rasing investments to the city, and develop educational projects to open new opportunities for the city and its residents.

DTEK presented its case study for setting up local development agencies at CSR MarketPlace exhibition organised by CSR Development Centre.