On July 20, 2017, the Forum “Decentralization – the basis for the formation of a new system of governance and local development” was held in Ternopil oblast. 

The initiators of the Forum were representatives of the Ternopil Oblast State Administration with the support of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine and international technical assistance projects: Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine – DESPRO, Council of Europe, U-LEAD Program with Europe, DOBRE Program. 

Volodymyr Groisman, Prime Minister of Ukraine, visited Ternopil region to participate in the event. The honorary speakers of the Forum, from among representatives of the central executive authorities, also included: Mr. Viacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Development, Mr. Roman Ilyk, Deputy Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine, Mr. Yurii Rashkevych, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Mr. Stepan Barna, Head of the Ternopil Oblast State Administration, and others. 

The participants had time to discuss the issues of a new system of governance and local development, implementation of the sectoral reform in the field of education and medicine, and the complexity of implementation of the monitoring system over the decisions of local self-government bodies. 

Representatives of the international community shared the European experience of reforms implementation and capacity building of local self-government. In particular, Ms. Dona Kerner, Specialist for Democracy Development of the US Agency for International Development, Mr. Daniel Popescu, Head of Democratic Governance Division of Directorate General of Democracy, General Secretariat of the Council of Europe, Special Advisor to the Government of Ukraine on Decentralization, Mr. Jean Fabre, Emeritus Prefect, Professor of Institute of Political Studies of Aix-en-Provence (Institut d'Etudes Politiques), and Ms. Malgorzata Majka-Onyszkiewicz, plenipotentiary representative of the governor of Subcarpathian province on national and ethnic minorities and international cooperation, joined the discussion. 

Ms. Oksana Garnets, Head of the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine – DESPRO, noted that the Forum is an opportunity for communication and exchange of opinions between everyone directly involved in the reform. 

“When the DESPRO Project began operating, 10 years ago, the reform seemed unrealizable. Experts could only emphasize how things should be. Today, we can see how it looks like, how the reform is taking place. At the moment, we need to move from focusing our attention on the amalgamation of communities and practical actions in the amalgamated communities - to the processes of local, regional and all-Ukrainian development”, said Ms. O. Garnets.