The Shakhivska amalgamated hromada became the first rural AH in the Donetsk Oblast. Having survived the shelling in 2014, three village councils ventured to amalgamate and today ambitiously develop hromada infrastructure. The Shakhivka AH is currently one of the leaders in financial capacity rating among small hromadas. The Administrative Service Centre, Safety Centre, and a hybrid solar power plant have been set up here. Shakhove has a renovated hub school for children from 14 villages.

More information - in Ukraїner’s report:

Hromada

Today the population of the Shakhivska hromada is more than 3 thousand people. Most of the residents are employed in agriculture, industry, and social sphere.

The Shahivska AH was established in the autumn of 2015, unites three village councils (14 villages) and plans to further expand. Volodymyr Kucherinenko, head of the Shakhivska AH, said that the early stage of amalgamation was not easy, but the result justifies itself.

 

“When we began to discuss the possibility of amalgamation into one hromada, it was a bit terrifying, since we united three village councils with different budgets and different numbers of villages. Today we do not regret amalgamation and think that this was the best solution.”

In 2018 the budget of the Shahivka hromada amounted to UAH 56 million, in 2019 – almost UAH 61 million.

 

 

Priorities for the Shahivska AH development in 2019 include the development of small and medium-size business, infrastructure; quality service delivery to the population and improvement of the state of roads. The local authorities plan to further implement energy saving methods, repair the hospital, arrange rural health posts, and renovate the cultural centres in villages.

 

 

“Our highest priority is transport links. Our roads are in a deplorable condition. We will also repair two cultural centres in the villages of Volodymyrivka and Nykanorivka. Projects are ready. 80 percent are financed by the regional or state budget and 20 percent – by local one. We directed all the funds received from MinRegion to renovate the outpatient clinic and purchase new medical equipment.”

Volodymyr Kucherinenko has been the head of the village council since 1992. He considers the fact that no school or hospital was closed in the Shakhove village council during this period to be one of the achievements. Today the hromada head strives to work to equalise all villages by the level of social services.

 

 

In 2014, Shakhove village, previously named as Oktyabrske, was part of the military action zone and fell under mortar shelling. Volodymyr Kucherinenko, head of the Shahivska AH, recalls that after liberation by Ukrainian troops it became calmer in the village. However, everything experienced can affect the decision to develop the hromada.

 

 

The AH builds children's playgrounds, open-air training complexes, youth centres in the villages. Volodymyr Kucherinenko tells about major renovation of the Shakhove cultural centre, restored after a fire.

 

 

Safety Centre and electric power station

At the beginning of 2017, the Shahivska AH opened its Safety Centre with round-the-clock service of the fire brigade. Now the most remote corners of the hromada can be reached in a maximum of 25 minutes. Volodymyr Kucherinenko said that the Safety Centre employed 17 people.

 

In December 2017, the hromada placed a hybrid power plant with 32 solar panels nearby the Safety Centre. The station is operated distantly from the city of Pokrovske. Volodymyr Kucherinenko says that in the future, Shakhove will be able to fully switch to autonomous street lighting.

 

 

 

Administrative Service Centre

The Administrative Service Centre (ASC) was opened in Shakhove in the autumn 2018. At the expense of the state budget, the building of the former hospital, where the ASC is currently located, has been renovated, and the local budget financed the purchase of equipment and furniture.

 

 

Hub school

In March 2018, Shakhove opened a hub school, attended by children from 14 surrounding villages. The hromada purchased two buses to bring pupils to the school. School principal Halyna Lyagusha says that now all classrooms have interactive whiteboards and projectors.

 

Major renovation of the school has been carried out in a year. New equipment was installed in the school canteen, kitchen and sports hall. Lamps and video surveillance cameras were purchased for the territory of the educational institution. The renovated school has a unique open-space library, where pupils can easily take and read books.

This material was created with the support of U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme, co-financed by the European Union and its member countries Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE