The high-level Coordination Meeting on "Reform of local government and decentralisationof power in Ukraine: successes and prospects"was held today by the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine (MinRegion) with the support of Ukraine – Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme (U-LEAD with Europe).

Representatives of Ukraine’s Ministries and Oblast State Administrations, regional Local Government Development Centres, the Central Reform Office and international partners gathered at Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv to discuss the current results and future tasks of the decentralisation reform.

Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, said: “The reform of local government and decentralisation is a strategic one for Ukraine. It changes the system of management in the country and moves the country closer to the European standards of life and principles of society organisation. Today we already have the result of the reform. The U-LEAD with Europe programme ensures the logistics of positive changes and social communications. And those changes, which are taking place in hromadas all over the country, are being turned into the new quality of public and economic relations, the new quality of services provided, the new quality of life.”

Berend de Groot, Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said: “As a key donor, the EU remains strongly committed to supporting the decentralisation reform, and the U-LEAD  with Europe programme is a main tool made available to help in rolling out the amalgamation of hromadas and re-enforcement of local governments. U-LEAD supported the establishment of Local Government Development Centres in all regions of the country which work directly with local communities and newly established hromadas. Decentralisation is the most important vehicle to bring real reforms to the citizens of Ukraine.”  

The directors of the Local Government Development Centres from all Oblasts of Ukraine also took part in the meeting to ensure better coordination of efforts to support the decentralisation. The reform issuesrelated to fiscal decentralisation,education,healthcare,spatial planning and provision of administrative services by local government bodieswere also discussed with the high-level representatives of the relevant Ministries and Oblast State Administration of Ukraine in the course of the coordination meeting.

Background Information: The U-LEAD with Europe Programme is a multi-donor action of the European Union and its Member StatesDenmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden supporting the Ukrainian government in the implementation of the milestone decentralisation reform in Ukraine. U-LEAD with Europe is implemented from 2016-2020 by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine (MinRegion). More information can be found on: www.u-lead.org.ua