Provision of Global Sustainable Development as a Factor in the Formation of Local Welfare

Abstract

The subject of the article is the problem of ensuring the welfare of the population in the context of achieving the goals of sustainable development. The authors define the concepts of "sustainable development", "hromadas" (territorial communities), "welfare", and systematise the prerequisites for the formation of welfare at the local level. The paper aims at developing approaches to determining the priority tasks of territorial development in the system of sustainable development goals. It is noted that sustainable development is impossible without achieving a certain level of welfare. To achieve the research goal, the authors analyses and assesses the level of welfare of hromadas, and also considers a set of indicators for assessing welfare based on a combination of "hard" (objective) and "soft" (subjective) factors. The methodology for assessing the welfare of territories (on the example of Ukraine) and studying its impact on the level of sustainable development of the country is applied. The methodology is based on the construction of a non-linear regression model, which demonstrates the high significance of the factors "number of educational institutions" and "number of cultural and sports institutions". The publication also identifies the main reasons that, according to the respondents, impede the development of hromadas in the region under study: poor quality of education; insufficient public initiative and activity of residents; lack of opportunities for self-realisation and meaningful leisure; poor quality (lack of) road surfaces; unemployment; spread of crime, alcoholism, corruption; environmental pollution; drinking water pollution; deterioration of engineering networks; population ageing; lack of investment; lack of entrepreneurship of hromada residents; lack of hromada awareness; unfavourable conditions for business development. The conclusion of the research is that local and regional plans should provide a systematic vision of territorial development and define strategies based on an integrated and multidimensional approach to inclusive and sustainable development. They should be defined, implemented and monitored with the involvement of key territorial stakeholders in the governance process. Based on the analysis, recommendations will be made to identify territorial development priorities in the system of sustainable development goals at local and global levels. In particular, to establish local priorities, existing local and regional programmes should be reviewed to identify the main needs, priorities, gaps and cross-sectoral linkages of the territory and their relationship with the SDGs and national priorities.