A series of round tables in the dialogue format to facilitate the joining of territorial communities to the cities of regional significance kicked off on the 24th of July in Kyiv Regional State Administration.
The project is initiated by the Cabinet’s of Ministers Reforms Delivery Office (RDO), OSCE, Ministry of Regional Development and donor assistance projects.
The 24th of July saw a facilitated founding meeting of representatives from the cities of regional significance and amalgamated territorial communities to be joined by local communities under perspective plans, Ministry of Regional Development, RDO, regional state administrations, Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC), and U-LEAD and DOBRE projects. The primary aim of the event was to sound out the positions of stakeholders, familiarize participants with the model and principles of strategic capability mapping for amalgamated territorial communities having a city of regional significance or another amalgamated territorial community as an administrative capital (in the context of regional development strategies), and task them with developing the strategic capability maps as a “home assignment”.
The next step will include coordinated advisory support. The completion phase will include discussion of strategic maps in selected cities of regional significance.
The expected outcomes of the project include:
- facilitated process of voluntary joining of territorial communities to the cities of regional significance and other amalgamated territorial communities in Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions through discussion among all stakeholders;
- informative proposals for cities of regional significance and amalgamated territorial communities setting out the benefits and challenges of joining worked out in cooperation with programs and projects operating in respective regions;
- proposals for city of regional significance or amalgamated territorial community based joint development strategies presented and discussed in the dialogue format with the participation of professional facilitators;
- continued efforts to facilitate the process of joining of territorial communities to the cities of regional significance resulting in new amalgamations.
According to information provided at the meeting, the state of affairs in the regions is as follows:
Kyiv region, 12 cities of regional significance
Some cities (Bucha, Berezan, Rzhyshchiv) have a positive experience in forming the amalgamated territorial communities through the joining of territorial communities. The remaining cities are not included in perspective plans. This gives an occasion to conduct a round table to facilitate the voluntary amalgamation process and inclusion of cities and their adjacent territorial communities in perspective plans.
Lviv region, 9 cities of regional significance
Such Subcarpathian cities of regional significance as Drohobych, Boryslav, Truskavets, Stryi and Morshyn have not been yet included in perspective plans because of the lack of concerted position. A round-table discussion will help sort out the situation and include these cities and their adjacent territorial communities in perspective plans.
Kharkiv region, 7 cities of regional significance
Lozova can serve as a good example of the amalgamation of adjacent territorial communities for the remaining six cities of regional significance. Considering that voluntary amalgamation in the region is not as robust as on average across the country, facilitating the process of voluntary joining can accelerate it.
Dnipropetrovsk region, 13 cities of regional significance
Pokrov (Ordzhonikidze) and Marganets formed the amalgamated territorial communities by joining the adjacent territorial communities and became their administrative capitals. In addition, almost all cities of regional significance (Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Zhovti Vody, Kamianske, Novomoskovsk, Nikopol, Pershotravensk, Pavlohrad, Synelnykove) are included in the perspective plans as amalgamated territorial communities without amalgamation or joining of adjacent territorial communities.
It is necessary to discuss the joining of already established amalgamated territorial communities to these cities of regional significance.
Odesa region, 9 cities of regional significance
Balta and Bilyaivka have become the two administrative capitals for amalgamated territorial communities.
Their positive experience can be used to facilitate the joining of territorial communities to other cities of regional significance.
Donetsk region, 11 cities of regional significance
Lyman was among the first to form an amalgamated territorial community through the voluntary amalgamation of all village councils and holding of local elections in 2015. Although all the remaining cities have been included in the perspective plans, no amalgamation takes place.
