On the eve of the Local Self-Governance Day the forum has an important mission to analyse the strategic development process of amalgamated hromadas and outline the tasks for the future.

Strategic planning of the territories’ development is an important analysing tool. After all, without a development strategy, no hromada established in the oblast can provide effective planning and implementation of projects.

The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is leading in the decentralisation reform implementation – hromadas’ amalgamation and empowerment. This is the only oblast where the Regional Decentralisation Strategy is developed and implemented in 12 sectoral areas. Next year 13 other sectoral strategies are to be developed.

34 AHs (15 in 2015, and 19 in 2016) were established in the oblast, and the first elections of deputies and corresponding heads have been already held there. Due to budget decentralisation, the first hromadas increased their income by 3 to 12 times.

The hromadas established in 2016 increased their income by 2-6 times.

Due to MinRegion’s support and consolidation of the resource of the Oblast State Administration and oblast council teams in 2016 and 2017, all the issues mentioned above allowed to attract respectively UAH 1 and 1.5 billion from the budgets of different levels for the development of AH infrastructure.

“Renovated roads and schools, new Administrative Service Centres and kindergartens in the existing hromadas and many other projects are the best argument for those who are planning to establish their hromadas,” says Olena Tertyshna, director of the Dnipropetrovsk Local Government Development Centre established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe programme.

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