DYNAMICS

FROM SCRATCH TO ENERGY-EFFICIENT SHOWCASE: THE ASC OF MYKOLAIVSKA AH

THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE U-LEAD WITH EUROPE PROGRAMME, ISSUE # 1, APRIL 2018

The new ASC of the Mykolaivska AH, serving 10,000 people, boasts highest energy-effi ciency standards. Photo: U-LEAD Archives.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IMPRINT

Feature: Slobozhanska Safety Centre

The Interview: Ivan Lukerya

Decentralisation Dynamics

Success Story: The Apple Path

Voices of U-LEAD with Europe

Responsible for the publication:

U-LEAD with Europe Programme Bastian Veigel, Kameran Khudur

Editors: Olena MolodtsovaRoland Hackenberg

Production and distribution:U-LEAD Monitoring, Visibility and Knowledge Management Team

Supported by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, the ASC offers approximately 100 types of administrative services for 10,000 residents. Community members now receive a wide range of administrative services including the most in-demand, such as housing subsidies, registration of res-idence and removal of residence registration, land services and real estate registration.

ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES

The U-LEAD with Europe Programme assisted the local communities in establishing the ASCs, refurbishing and renovating the premises, and installing IT equipment with specialised software. Revenues from the administrative services will be credited to the local communities’ budgets. The ASC staff have taken part in the advanced training course developed by Ukrainian and Swedish experts within the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

Considered as one of the most energy-effi cient adminis-trative buildings in Ukraine, the new Administrative Ser-vice Centre (ASC) of the Mykolayivska AH in the Sumy Oblast opened its doors to the public. The center was built “from scratch”: in less than fi ve months. The build-ing, using energy-effi cient technologies, impresses with its innovative architectural style. European administrative standards mark day-to-day work and specialised compu-ter software facilitates processes and offi ce management.

GREEN AND FRIENDLY

Energy-saving properties such as panels with additional in-sulation, a combination of air/water heat pump with under-floor heating provides highest energy effi ciency. With this combination of green technologies and environmentally friendly materials, the community saves four times more on heating and ventilation than in regular building.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE THAT IS TRANSPARENT, ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIVE TO THE NEEDS OF THE POPULATION

IN SLOBOZHANSKA AH, NO MORE ANXIOUS WAITING FOR THE EMERGENCY TEAM

Captured in the U-LEAD with Europe “Fidget Spinner”, the interaction between the LGDC, the CRO and the Programme Units shows roles, responsibilities and relationships that are mutually reinforcing. The tri-fold combination of CRO’s policy knowledge and moni-toring, LGDC’s support to sub-national levels and practical insights from the local level, especially on AH needs and Programme Units’ management of U-LEAD resources, pro-vides the analytical and advisory framework for U-LEAD’s actions.

Programme Units are allied to CRO’s strategic interface with MinRegion and other min-istries, enable the setting of LGDC’s overall direction, delivered through its regional net-work; and the know-how and experience residing within the Programme Units staff and the expert pool of the Regional Centres allow U-LEAD with Europe to carry out its oper-ations effectively and effi ciently. This strategic and operational framework is shaped by three external steering groups as depicted in the “Fidget Spinner”.

Ukraine’s future and the success of its reform process de-pend on dedicated Ukrainians working with enthusiasm and engagement for their country’s future.

Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner,

European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations

Certainly, after the modernisation of the ASC, it became more convenient for an average citizen to receive a certain service, because, fi rstly, the list of these services has con-siderably expanded, and secondly, when you came to re-ceive one service you can at the same time consult other specialists who are located in one place.

Lyudmila Potapenko, Resident of Kipti AH

I had an opportunity to improve my skills in formulating project proposals and identifying new funding sources for the hromada. For me, that event served as an impetus to participate in a call for proposals announced by the Iva-no-Frankivsk Oblast Council to support local self-gover-nance development initiatives.

Olga Voitseshko, Economic Development and Investments Department,

Vytvytska AH

Today I visited the ASC in Hostomel and was positively im-pressed by the high level of service provided by the em-ployees. I enjoyed good communication, high qualifi ca-tions and the culture of working with me.

Iryna Tkachenko, Nurse of the Armed Forces,

Hostomel

We consider the regional offi ces of U-LEAD with Europe as promoters of decentralisation reform in Ukraine.

Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine

When I visited amalgamated hromadas in the Chernivtsi Oblast as part of the study trip organised by the Kharkiv LGDC, I had a chance to see how the decentralisation worked in practice. When I returned home, I had strong arguments to persuade people to support further amalgamation.

Ihor Tymchenko, Acting Starosta, Zachepylivska AH

BASTIAN VEIGEL

PROGRAMME DIRECTORS U-LEAD WITH EUROPE

KAMERAN KHUDUR

SUCCESS STORY

SEVERYNIVKA (VYNNYTSIA OBLAST)

IVAN LUKERYAREGIONAL COORDINATOR CENTRAL REFORM OFFICE - CRO

A GOOD MIX

THE APPLE PATH

U-LEAD IN THE SPOTLIGHT

DECENTRALISATIONDYNAMICS

As the U-LEAD with Europe Programme continues to unfold, we look ahead at the enormous efforts still to be made to ensure strategic direction, strong managerial and staff support and the further inte-gration and capacity development of stakeholders at the national, regional and local levels. Mirroring back, the Programme has been maneuvering in a complex context of socio-political and economic change in Ukraine.

Information on the decentralisation and regional policy reform as well as on U-LEAD with Europe is regularly disseminated through-out Ukraine and internationally. Why does U-LEAD then launch a newsletter for its external audience?

The U-LEAD with Europe DYNAMICS is designed to sharpen the focus and further increase the availability of clear and balanced in-formation on U-LEAD and the reforms by communicating progress, carefully selecting news, highlights and presenting people and im-pacts that make a difference.

The role that communities play in the decentralisation and regional policy reform is as vital for success as the efforts of the Govern-ment of Ukraine and donor support. A good, balanced mix of up-dates, news briefs, reports, features, interviews, testimonials, facts, fi gures and images is editorially prepared to present readers a com-pact overview of where we stand - and more.

This newsletter intends to promote the understanding of the Pro-gramme by bringing the multitude of different aspects into one key perspective: U-LEAD with Europe exists to improve lives of all Ukrainian citizens. The U-LEAD with Europe DYNAMICS thus strives to accentuate the efforts made for the sake of a better understand-ing of the Programme and actions taken by the Government in the fi eld of the decentralisation and regional policy reforms.

“It all started with the exchange of experiences,” says Olexandr Khrystyuk, Head of the Severynivska amalgamated hromada (AH), who remembers the day when, with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, two study tours to Poland were organised for representatives of the Severynivska AH to learn about regional development and “how to increase the hromada invest-ment capacity”. Today, the AH, formed in 2016, includes seven villages of the Zhmerynka Rayon with an area of 72,966 square metres and more than 3,500 residents. “In the process of amalgamation, we faced the challenges related to increasing the local budget revenues, infrastructure development and preserv-ing human potential. Gardening production processing and tourism develop-ment were identifi ed as prospective areas for local economic development and effective management,” says Olexandr Khrystyuk.

The feature of the AH is fruit cultivation, in particular, it is known for its deli-cious apples. The AH is among the three places, where 51 percent of all apples in Ukraine are grown, about 400 thousand tonnes are harvested annually. With an increasing amount of revenues of the local budget and the need to pre-serve human potential, infrastructure development was necessary to further increase production of apples and other horticultural products. After learning how similar projects were managed in Poland, new opportunities and resourc-es for eco-tourism development arose.

During 2017, the Vinnytsia Local Government Development Centre (LGDC) worked with the leadership and residents of the Severynivska AH to determine the optimal ways of developing the territory. More than 40 on-site meetings, advisory discussions, seminars and trainings were held by the LGDC experts to help the hromada create an effective development plan. Regional devel-opment and local fi nance advisers of the LGDC contributed to training on the effective use of budgets and strategic planning. They assisted in the conclu-sion of an agreement on inter-municipal cooperation with hromada partners. The result of the cooperation between the LGDC and the Severynivska AH was “Yablunevyi Shlyakh”, the “Apple Path” project. It aims at the use of the region-al “Podillya Apple” brand for hromada development, through promoting both the areas associated with the cultivation of apples and local apple products. Various “apple branded” festivals will be organised and tourist facilities and routes created.

The Severynivska AH received EUR 700,000 for the project implementation, allocated by the EU and the hromada (EUR 560,000 of direct EU investment and the equivalent of EUR 140,000 from hromada funds). The Severynivska AH, having worked out an investment plan envisaging the development of eco-nomic capacity, took the right path. The Apple Path, as people here say today.

BRUSSELSADDRESSING LACK OF KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW-HOW

How can the lack of knowledge and know-how best be addressed through the exchange between peers with similar experience? This was one of the main questions highlighted by Bastian Veigel, GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe, at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Initiative in Brussels, hosted by President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Karl-Heinz Lambertz. Attended by high-level EU offi cials such as Peter Wagner, Head of the Support Group for Ukraine, and Berend de Groot, Head of Cooperation at the EU Del-egation to Ukraine, as well as numerous members of the CoR from the EU member states, the CoR-Ukraine Task Force meeting served to benefi t from match-making sessions. The idea behind these kind of partnerships is to bring together municipalities and regions of EU member countries and Ukraine to promote the exchange of experi-ences, support capacity development and build up sustainable part-nerships.

KYIVIMPROVING ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE DELIVERY

With the support of the MinRegion, information sessions on the Roll-Out Phase for Administrative Service Centres (ASCs) have been con-ducted by U-LEAD with Europe experts on improved administrative service delivery. During the sessions held in partnership with Oblast State Administrations (OSAs) and Regional Centres (RCs) of the Lo-cal Government Development Centre (LGDC), the experts reported on the results of the Inception Phase and explained the terms and conditions for participation in the selection process for ASCs for the Roll-out Phase. More than 1000 people - representatives of commu-nities, villages and towns of Ukraine - participated in the events. The fi rst round of participants selection was launched and will be carried out in four rounds, each including a cooperation with approximately 150 communities. The qualifi ed participants will receive assistance in creating or up-grading ASCs.

KYIVNEW SHOW: “ALL UKRAINE, MODERN HROMADA”

U-LEAD supports a weekly radio programme “All Ukraine: Modern Hromada”, created and broadcast by Ukrainian National Radio in close cooperation with MinRegion. The programme is a 25 minute live show, with a studio guest (decentralisation experts, politicians etc.) and speakers from amalgamated hromadas, who join by phone. The fi rst show was hosted by Prime-Minister Volodymyr Groysman. A total of 25 programmes are planned until July 2018.

KYIVDEVELOPING INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR ASCs

The EU-funded EGOV4UKRAINE signed an agreement to develop an information system for ASCs in Ukraine. According to Hannes As-tok, project leader of EGOV4UKRAINE, the system will be piloted in selected ASCs and then implemented in small ASCs across Ukraine during the next three years. “The information system will speed up the work of administrators of the centres tenfold by providing smooth electronic document management and access to data in state reg-istries,” says Astok.

GOVERNMENT-LED EFFORT ON COMMON RESULTSA national conference on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the decentralisation reform took place on 5 April in Vinnytsia. President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, top nation-al offi cials and representatives of the international community re-iterated their commitment to support the decentralisation and re-gional policy reform. “From the very fi rst days there were relevant drafts of legislative acts, strong support from the Government and effective work of the Parliament. Decentralisation became one of my fi rst priority reforms. I am confi dent that this will be continued in the future,” said President Poroshenko. Berend de Groot, Head of Coop-eration at the EU Delegation and co-chairperson of the Donor Board on the Decentralisation Reform, underlined past and present efforts of Ukraine’s international partners to support the reform: “Separate and modest international support initiatives as done earlier this de-cade, have grown into a well-knit and jointly coordinated Govern-ment-led effort around common results.”

NEW PLATFORM CONNECTS STAKEHOLDERSA new series of weekly video-conference events, jointly organised by MinRegion and U-LEAD with Europe, was launched in Kyiv as a new communication platform. The aim of the conferences is to connect executives and representatives of the 24 RCs of the LGDC, the Central Reform Offi ce (CRO) and MinRegion. “The dynamics of the decentralisation reform in the regions is very important for us. It concerns amalgamation of hromadas, the status of sectoral decen-tralisation and, in particular, the development of primary healthcare in rural areas, development of education, provision of administrative services, citizens’ safety centres,” says Vice Prime Minister Henna-dii Zubko.

FOCUS ON REFORMS AT POLITICAL “UKRAINE WEEK” IN BERLINWith the aim of highlighting existing possibilities and ongoing re-forms in Ukraine, several high-level events were organised by the GIZ within the framework of the “Ukraine Week” in Berlin. Among them Oleksandr Saienko, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and Peter Wagner, Head of the Support Group for Ukraine were speaking on a panel discussion which was attended by a vari-ety of Ukrainian and German stakeholders to promote opportunities to exchange on concrete achievements and overcome challenges in the implementation of reforms. Furthermore, a delegation of MinRe-gion and communication advisors from various Ukrainian ministries learned how the German Government, political parties and the Par-liament organise their media and communications work.

“Now we are prepared for any emergency situation, we can reach a scene within fi ve minutes,” says Valeriy Lifi renko. The head of the hromada feels relieved, and he has all reasons for. Not long ago, he adds, people had to “anxiously wait” for fi refi ghters to arrive from Dnipro or Tsarychanka, located 30 km away from the hromada: “Now we are keeping 14,000 residents of the hromada safer.” The fi rst citizens’ safety centre in the oblast was established in October 2017 in the village of Stepove. Local residents came to look at their own fi re truck, not hiding their enthusiasm. The hromada now has motor pumps, generators, chainsaws and all utensils and heavy tools required to deal with emergen-cies.

CIVIL PROTECTION STRATEGY

This improved situation developed when the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State Administration (OSA), with the support of the LDGC and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, elaborated

a decentralisation strategy for the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which includes twelve sectoral regional strategies. The domains also incorporated a strategy for civil protection of the pop-

ulation and life safety. During 2017, two pilot safety centres had opened in the Slobozhanska and Svyatovasylivska AHs, paving the way for the full-fledged centre functioning today.

MASTERING EMERGENCIES

“Of course, before the safety centre started its work, we were concerned about additional funding for project implementation and personnel training,” recalls Valeriy Lifi renko. Having submitted an ap-plication to the Dnipropetrovsk OSA, the hromada received UAH 400,000 and also invested UAH 1.8 million from its own community budget. As a result, an equipped modern fi re vehicle and road cleaning machinery to master rough weather and snowfall conditions were purchased. Fourteen rescuers are em-ployed by the hromada, doing their best to reduce delays in cases of emergency.

The emergency team of Slobozhanska awaits di-rectives.

Men of the Emergency Team of Slobozhanska

load equipment.

PROMOTING DEVELOPMENT AND PARLIAMENTARY APPROVAL

Promoting the development and parliamentary approval of the regulatory frame-work for the reform of local self-government and decentralisation of power is the challenge. In particular, it is necessary to foster the adoption of a number of new legislative acts that would improve the mechanism of hromada formation, func-tioning of new rayons, management of local resources and planning of hromada territory. The challenge is also the further process of voluntary amalgamation of hromadas. It is strikingly apparent in the context of the political process that con-tinues in Ukraine, on the eve of the presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as taking into account that the voluntary amalgamation of hromadas has been on for the third year in a row. Now we have a situation where the most initiative and responsible people of local self-government have taken leadership, formed amal-gamated hromadas and ensure their socio-economic development.

The greatest support that is needed is the involvement of additional specialists and advisers that would contribute to the implementation (coordination) of the main priorities of MinRegion and the Government in implementing the decentrali-sation and local self-government reform.

Hard to say. What is certain is that the number of citizens knowledgeable about the reforms, even about specifi c aspects of the decentralisation and regional policy reforms, has increased.

The aim should be to continue to communicate on benefi ts of amalgamation by highlighting the impacts. Answering citizens´ questions is a major communica-tions task for U-LEAD with Europe.

It is also important to support local self-government reform communication, since only the usage of high-quality targeted and mass communication can protect the achievements of the reform and obtain new results (both at the level of adoption of new legislation and at the level of formation of capable hromadas).

What are the main future challenges of the CRO in today´s context?

What can U-LEAD do to further strengthen the CRO and accelerate decentralization?

What is the public perception of the CRO´s efforts?

Questions prepared by: Visibility Group of U-LEAD with Europe.

Q:

Q:

Q:

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and its member states Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of its authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, the European Union and its member states Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Sweden.

© U-LEAD with Europe, 2018

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The indoor design of the Mykolaivska ASC premises. Residents of Mykolaivska AH in the new ASC.