A project has been launched in Ukraine to promote the reform of the sub-regional (rayon) level of the administrative and territorial structure, which is being implemented by the Centre for Political and Legal Reform with the support of the British Embassy in Ukraine.

The project will help to prepare proposals for the formation of an optimal model of the administrative-territorial structure of the rayon level in each Ukrainian oblast.

This was announced by the Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services, as a result of a practical workshop on modeling of improved administrative and territorial structure of the rayon level in the oblasts of Ukraine.

“The overwhelming positive factor is the support of the British Embassy in Ukraine for such complex reforms in our country as the administrative-territorial reform. We have a common and single goal – to form a rational territorial structure of the country and an effective government system for ensuring balanced economic development of all territories, providing quality and accessible services to citizens. And in such a context, it is necessary to carry out as much information and advisory work with citizens and political elites on the ground as possible. The centre does not always see all the factors, prerequisites and advantages of a particular format of the model of administrative and territorial structure of any oblast. Therefore, conducting a roundtable discussion on the topic in each oblast, finding and preparing the most consistent proposals for the future sub-regional structure with the local experts and the public is the right way to successfully implement the next stage of this reform. It is also important to synchronise the work of this project with the activities of the relevant regional working groups established under the oblast state administrations. Only with support on the ground can we move on,” said Vyacheslav Negoda

We recall that the Project on the “Modeling of the administrative and territorial structure at the sub-regional level” in the Volyn, Odesa, Poltava, Chernivtsi and Kyiv Oblasts has been working in Ukraine since July 2019. The initiative is being implemented by the Ukrainian Association of Rayon and Oblast Councils (UAROR) with the support of the Council of Europe Programme “Decentralisation and Local Government Reform in Ukraine”. Earlier UAROR conducted modeling and drafted bills on establishing and changing the boundaries of rayons in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Ternopil and Kharkiv Oblasts.