The “Neighbourhood Fair 2018” forum is being held in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration. The amalgamated hromadas of the region presented projects they managed to implement during the year. The best of the best were awarded with the decentralisation Oscars. The winners, who managed to implement the most original and most useful plans, got honorary cups.

In 2018, the hromadas of the oblast proposed 177 projects to participate in the Neighbourhood Fair – three times more than last year.

Alexandra Fehlinger, Deputy GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe, said that this competition basically fosters hromadas to be participants of their development. „The concept of neighbourhood, good neighbourliness is very close to us, because we all are neigbours. Neighbourhood is very often defined as an opportunity to cooperate very closely with people united by a specific geographic area. That is why I am very happy to see so many representatives of different hromadas here today. The topic of neighbourhood is close to me, because I come from a small city in Germany. Neighbourhood is not only helping each other, it is an excellent tool to show the actual results of the decentralisation reform and where it goes, how to support and improve the sustainable hromadas where people want to live and work," she said.

“The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is the leader of Ukraine in implementing the local self-government reform. The oblast is always set as an example of how we need to cooperate. When someone is just considering, whether to form a hromada, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is already taking a step forward. Here they think how to actively develop amalgamations, create effective projects, earn money for local self-government development,” said Vyacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

“Neighbourhood Fair” is held in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast for the second time. This project is unique for Ukraine.

The winners were selected in 12 categories:

1. social protection of the population

2. education

3. healthcare

4. effective economic development

5. local finances

6. healthy lifestyle

7. professional personnel development

8. civil protection

9. protection of children

10. culture, creative hromada

11. e-governance and public services

12. spatial development.

The Sofiyivska, Mykolayivska and Slobozhanska AHs received the special awards of the competition jury.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE