Contributor: Khrystyna Tybinka,

expert at the Research Centre for Local Self-Government and

Civil Network for Public Law and Administration UPLAN

Actually, all cities in Ukraine have sub-districts that have been established in the course of their development.

They do not have any official administrative status, but, in fact, each sub-district is a small “universe” that identifies itself through its location, social and economic ties, local traditions and power centres attracting its residents (for instance, in Kyiv these are Rusanivka, Osokorky, in Lviv – Znesinnya, Rohatka, in Dnipro – Vorontsovka, Chechelivka).

Every sub-district has its specifics and problems that a single local self-government body (city council) cannot address on its own. Moreover, in the context of the decentralisation reform these tasks should be transferred to the local level.

The only tool provided by the Ukrainian law to pursue the interests of sub-districts is to establish a sub-district committee serving as a form of self-organisation for local residents (SOR). However, in practice, this SOR has only been implemented in several cities. In many cases, it is actually impossible to establish such a body for the entire sub-district; also, city councils that allow creating sub-district committees do not take them seriously and do not grant them necessary powers.

In this context, it is interesting to look at the Polish system, since Ukrainian cities have a rather similar administrative and territorial structure as well as local self-government system.

What positive things could we take over, and what challenges should we be ready to face?

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