Such a consolidated viewpoint was expressed by the Vinnytsya Oblast residents – participants of the 2nd All-Ukrainian Forum of Amalgamated Hromadas, held in the capital on 04 December.

30 representatives of local self-government bodies and AHs from the Vinnytsya Oblast took part in the plenary discussions of the forum.

“Today it is extremely important to have a clear position of the central government regarding the decentralisation progress, and we heard this during the speeches of the leaders of the state – the President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, representatives of ministries and departments. The development of local self-government remains one of the main current and future priorities, and it increases the trust to the reform,” said Serhiy Parteka, head of the Murafska AH.

“The meeting’s agenda is extremely rich – an interesting experience of successful hromadas, state support offers, appropriate advice from foreign donors. The Oshchadbank programme of small business development promotion, that recommends switching from communal enterprises to a competitive environment. As far as communal service market is concerned, small settlements are still being subsidised, and we cannot let the price of water supply increase, because people have invested their own funds in water pipes and receive low incomes. In my opinion, today competition will work better and level the market in the rayon and oblast centres, but we will be able to successfully use the “Build your own” programme in other directions,” says Oleksandr Amons, head of the Hlukhovetska AH from the Kozyatyn Rayon.

“It should be noted that the forum is aimed at supporting the village and increasing local budget revenues. It’s good that government officials are returning to large-scale state support programmes for agricultural producers. In the Vinnytsya Oblast, people start being greatly interested in growing berries, it is a profitable business and gardening support programme is rather timely one, which, in turn, will save human potential and increase hromada incomes,” said Oleksandr Banit, deputy head of the Severynivska AH.

“The forum of amalgamated hromadas gathered a pool of experts on the topic of creation of a capable self-government in Ukraine. Today, the key challenge is to attract investment and enrich hromadas, as people on the ground have believed in new opportunities, we already have successful experience in many AHs throughout Ukraine, and a wide representation of local self-government bodies at the forum shows a high interest in positive changes, therefore, decentralisation cannot be stopped,” said Oleh Levchenko, director of the Vinnytsya Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe programme and MinRegion.