A general meeting of the All-Ukrainian Association of Village and Settlement Councils will be held in November this year. There it will be reformed into an All-Ukrainian Association of Self-Governing Communities – in fact, a new association with a new strategy for the period until the next local elections, reads the Appeal of the Management Board of the Association to the local self-government bodies of Ukrainian hromadas.

All current members will stay with the renewed association and every hromada that sees rural development as priority – regardless of whether its centre is a small town, settlement or village – will be able to join.

The Association intends to defend the interests of its members in the final stage of decentralisation and focuses on such main areas of activities:

• fair amalgamation format – to bring hromadas together in the most optimal configuration, with maximum benefit for each town, settlement, village;
• fair distribution of public finances – so that no village, settlement, town lose financially from amalgamation, but vice versa – win from it;
• fair solution of the land issue – to ensure that communities have real land management and that the land market model caters for hromadas’ development and well-being of people;
• fair representation in the local government – to ensure that hromadas of each village, settlement, town are properly represented in the local councils of new hromadas.

The Appeal stresses the aspiration of the Association of Village and Settlement Councils to consolidate efforts of all Ukrainian associations in order to achieve one voice of Ukrainian self-government in dialogue with the state.

The Management Board of the Association also reaffirmed its willingness to partner with the state authorities that will reform the country for the benefit of hromadas and their residents.