The DESPRO project has created an opportunity for perspective amalgamated hromadas to get first-hand information on the reform.

“Why should hromadas amalgamate?” – the answer to this question was searched for by the participants of the like-named debates organised by the Swiss-Ukrainian Project “Decentralisation Support in Ukraine” (DESPRO) in the Krasnokutsk Rayon of the Kharkiv Oblast. Village heads, deputies of local councils, representatives of medical, pedagogical teams, and the public, with the help of experts and heads of AHs from the Kherson, Poltava and Zaporizhzhya Oblasts, “X-rayed” the prospects of the future amalgamation of hromadas.

“What will happen to schools and rural health posts?”, “Will there be lay off of employees of amalgamated village councils?”, “How will the participation in the reform help renew the infrastructure?” – these and other questions were addressed to the experts and heads of the Veselivska, Kochubeyivska, Omelnytska AHs by the participants of the debates.

It is important that the participants of the debates were able to answer the questions regarding their hromadas on the current state of education and healthcare, as well as on support of the process of voluntary amalgamation of hromadas, anonymously, in an electronic form. For example, only 28% of the participants answered “yes” to the question “Do you consider material and technical equipment of village schools in the Krasnokutsk Rayon sufficient?”. Instead, 64% of respondents consider the level of education in these schools to be of high-quality. Experts were not surprised by such a difference in the answers.

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