Maria Dyskant, head of Zabolottsivska amalgamated hromada, Lviv Oblast

“I have been motivated by the young people of our hromada – young leaders. Not only do they motivate me, they give me a kick up the backside and make me work. They have so many different ideas that you need to live three life-times in a row to be able to implement them jointly with the young people. The decentralisation reform has untied our hands and together with the hromada youth, we have managed to implement several sport projects that we could not even dream of before. For example, we have recently built an artificial turf soccer field. It has been the most cherished dream of our hromada’s children. During the first days, they just kept laying on the grass. Kids were laying and enjoying the new grass. Also, our youth takes part in the GIZ “11x11 champions. Football for the development of youth and regions” project. There are 11 teams from all over Ukraine and it is our village team that scored a victory and received 11,000 Euro for the renovation of the village stadium. We spend the money on purchasing the materials; small repairs are done by the soccer players themselves, their parents or local activists. Nothing motivates as much as a victory and positive experience. And even though money is important, it does not play the key role in this. The main thing is to have the desire and work every day to make it come true – and then success will be right around the corner.”