In all 24 Oblasts (regions), coordinators of the offices for decentralisation and development reforms are determined, the main task of which offices is the encouragement of local self-government reform and territorial structure of power at the regional level. This week, the selected experts will have training courses in Kyiv.

"You won not a simple competition. Your knowledge and experience have been assessed by regional commissions, the Ministry, and international partners. High hopes are laid on you, hence, heavy responsibilities as well. The training process might have been much longer, maybe, most of you need a break for organisation and adaptation, but there is no time for that. Hard work is ahead, the results of which work should be experienced in a month or two", First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Viacheslav Nehoda addressed the coordinators of regional offices during the meeting on the occasion of the commencement of their training.

According to the information provided by the First Deputy Minister, the main tasks of the offices for reforms include the following:

Encouragement of the process of voluntary amalgamation of territorial communities;
Completion of work on the prospective plans of formation of territories of Oblast (regional) communities;
Assistance to the amalgamated communities in the implementation of infrastructural and developmental projects thereby;
Collection and provision of information on the activities and budgets of the amalgamated communities for the purposes of analysing their development;
Greater outreach in terms of the communities' cooperation.
"Unfortunately, some matters that are important for the process of amalgamation of communities requiring legislative regulation are still pending at the Parliament. However, the reform has not come to a standstill. Our main task is to help the communities wishing to amalgamate to get prepared for the first elections already by September and hold them still in this year so that to work in new circumstances and with new opportunities in the next year", emphasized Viacheslav Nehoda.

According to him, the formation of their teams is also the first priority and important task for the coordinators of the offices for reforms. "The offices for reforms whose activities you will coordinate have to become powerful teams of experts from various projects operating in the Oblasts. The objective of your joint work is not to provide reports and figures, but to actually improve the living conditions of people in communities", Viacheslav Nehoda said.

Reference information

Coordinators of regional offices for decentralisation and development reforms:

1. Oleh Levchenko - Vinnytsia Oblast
2. Anatolii Parkhomiuk - Volynska Oblast
3. Olena Tertyshna - Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
4. Artem Vivdych - Donetsk Oblast
5. Vasyl Nevmerzhytskyi - Zhytomyr Oblast
6. Ivan Demianchuk - Zakarpatska Oblast
7. Oleksandr Svystun - Zaporizhia Oblast
8. Ruslan Panasiuk - Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
9. Roman Pluhator - Kyiv Oblast
10. Oleh Yaremenko - Kirovohrad Oblast
11. Ihor Ahibalov - Luhansk Oblast
12. Andrii Bryn - Lviv Oblast
13. Valentyn Boiko - Mykolaiv Oblast
14. Yulia Molodozhen - Odesa Oblast
15. Iryna Balybina - Poltava Oblast
16. Ruslan Syvyi - Rivne Oblast
17. Oleksandr Khorunzhenko - Sumy Oblast
18. Viktor Lytvynchuk - Ternopil Oblast
19. Diana Barynova - Kharkiv Oblast
20. Oksana Siliukova - Kherson Oblast
21. Serhii Yatskovskyi - Khmelnytskyi Oblast
22. Serhii Slynko - Cherkasy Oblast
23. Tetiana Tatarchuk - Chernivtsi Oblast
24. Iryna Kudryk - Chernihiv Oblast

Regional offices for decentralisation and development reforms are formed at the initiative of the Ministry of Regional Development and with the assistance of international donor partners. It is envisaged that the offices will be established as legal entities for the provision of assistance in the implementation of the local self-government reform and territorial structure of power, decentralisation of powers of executive authorities, reforming the state regional policy.

Activities of the regional offices for reforms will be fully funded by international organisations and assistance programmes/ projects cooperating with the Ukrainian Government, including U-LEAD, the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development, and others.