Hugues Mingarelli, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, made a working visit to Dnipropetrovsk and visited the Dnipropetrovsk Local Government Development Centre.

During the roundtable meeting “Current situation of the decentralisation reform in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast” the heads of hromadas and representatives of the Dnipropetrovsk LGDC discussed decentralisation results in the region and the challenges faced by AHs.

Hugues Mingarelli stressed that decentralisation remains the most successful reform of Ukraine and the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is among the leaders of the reform.

Olena Tertyshna, director of the Dnipropetrovsk LGDC, reported that in 2018, the LGDC has conducted 132 events, attended by 4300 representatives of oblast’s hromadas, among them: Starostas’ Forum, Smart Hromada Forum, Neighbourhood Fair Competition and 3D Forum: Decentralisation, Dnipropetrovsk, Deeds.

Dmytro Ekzarkhov, head of the Ilarionivka AH, presented the opportunities to attract European investments to rural areas. Due to decentralisation, there appeared a Czech military footwear manufacturing enterprise. Ivan Kalashnikov, head of the Tomakivska AH, told about social sphere administration with attraction of funds of the international organisations. Lyubov Kholodenko, head of the Verbkivska hromada, shared how the life of Verbkibky changed after amalgamation. Her hromada is among the TOP-5 AHs of Ukraine according to the financial capacity ranking of MinRegion.