The overall objective of this project was to improve, in a sustainable manner, the economic, environmental and health conditions in areas of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia most affected by the Chernobyl disaster. The objective was achieved through:

• The establishment of a decentralised approach for sustainable development;
• The application of this approach to selected communities;
• The development of guidance for the dissemination of the approach throughout the affected regions.

The project had an investment fund for small-scale developments, in particular through the development of SMEs. It also developed local infrastructure for ongoing support of SMEs – at district and village levels. It worked with nine village-based groups in communities affected by the Chernobyl disaster, with three villages in one region in each country were selected. This provided the basis for community-led social and economic recovery and for employment generation particularly through the development of SMEs that enabled the use of technologies for recovering agricultural production on the contaminated land. Different methods of intervention were developed with the intention of deriving lessons and generalised models to be applied more widely at village, region/Oblast and inter-regional (cross-border) levels.