On June 23, 2017, a presentation of the results of the pilot project for supporting the amalgamated communities in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast was held. Mr. Anatolii Tkachuk, Director in Science at the Civil Society Institute, told experts and representatives of the donor organizations supporting the project, including DESPRO, about its main achievements and outcomes.

We would like to remind that the idea of the project originated in 2014, and its main goal was to help the newly formed communities start their activities in the new environment. It was also planned, using the example of two selected communities, to practice methods and techniques for developing strategic documents on the basis of the best European practices for the further dissemination of these techniques. Around this idea, the Institute of Civil Society has brought together many organizations and institutions that have agreed to support the project. Among them, the Khmelnytskyi Oblast State Administration, the International Renaissance Foundation, the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine - DESPRO, the Council of Europe in Ukraine, the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, GIZ within the U-LEAD program, the Swedish-Ukrainian Project “Support to Decentralization in Ukraine”. 

Having gained a solid support, the team has implemented the whole range of tasks by providing informational and organizational support for the formation of ATCs at the first stage of the reform, helped ATCs prepare local regulations and the budget for 2016, and conducted training for communities on 7 training modules. Besides, together with Sataniv and Volochysk communities, strategies for their development and spatial planning have been elaborated. In the process of implementing these tasks, numerous informational and methodological materials on various aspects of ATC activity have been created and disseminated. The DESPRO has made a substantial contribution, which included: information & media support, regional expert and organizational support for the project implementation, technical support for a separate section on the Institute's web site, and 4 trainings conducted for ATCs, which were attended by 137 representatives of local self-government bodies, members of local councils, among them - 76 men and 61 women. 

DESPRO also supported measures for the development of the strategies of Volochysk and Sataniv communities. The achieved results help to develop not only the pilot communities and the region, but are in demand in different parts of the country. The CSI has already conducted similar trainings in 6 other regions of Ukraine, besides the video version of the trainings is accessible on the CSI web-site. In addition, numerous analytical materials and proposals have been submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development and the State Fund for Regional Development, and a web-platform has been created, which is filled with 550 thousand values of indicators of social and-economic development of the oblasts. 

As Mr. A. Tkachuk summarized in his report: “It was an innovative and integrated project. Working in one area (territory) to support the process from the formation of ATCs to their smart growth provides an invaluable experience that can be successfully disseminated. Today the heads of ATCs from Khmelnytskyi oblast not only cope well with their powers, but they are also public ambassadors of decentralization at the state level. The success of the project was ensured by the flexibility of the team and donors”. 

More information about the Project can be found on the web-site of the Civil Society Institute.