On 23 February, a graduation ceremony took place at the Ministry of Regional Development where certificates of the completed training programme of the Council of Europe "Leadership Academy" were delivered to heads of amalgamated territorial communities.

During the event, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Viacheslav Nehoda noted, among other things:

"The decentralisation enabled many people to understand that the state is not an abstractive thing, and not officials in Kyiv only. The reform enables each community, even a small one, to join the process of development of the country and assume responsibility for its fate. The local self-government itself should be the basis, the foundations of the state. And in the course of decentralisation, this basis is being continuously enforced. Your decisions, actions and words are now very important, because you are the first representatives of authority to be approached by people. You should be the leaders introducing forward-looking changes in the country, the most efficient element in the implementation of the state policy and must not detach themselves from it. So, I congratulate you on the occasion of completed course and hope that you will use the newly acquired knowledge for the benefit of residents of your communities and will disseminate it among your colleagues."

In his turn, Мårten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, addressing the heads of amalgamated communities, noted:

"Your success is the success of the whole reform. And we are glad that we are able to support that success. Currently, the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine is developing the next action plan. As before, it is focused mainly on the support for the processes of decentralisation and regional development".

Heads of 37 amalgamated communities from 16 Oblasts (Regions) of Ukraine became the graduates from the Leadership Academy of the Council of Europe this year.

Reference information

The annual "Leadership Academy" training programme of the Council of Europe has being carried out in Ukraine since 2011 in cooperation with the Ministry of Regional Development.

From 2011 through 2015, the training courses of the Leadership Academy were attended by more than 200 heads of local self-government bodies.

In 2016, the Academy courses were adjusted to train heads of the amalgamated territorial communities. In the course of the year, there were held three three-day sessions, following the results of which 37 heads obtained certificates of the Council of Europe.