The first elections in the Trostyanetska amalgamated hromada of the Sumy Oblast took place in October 2017. Three councils amalgamated in the urban AH, the population of which is now more than 20,000 people. The AH head is convinced that decentralisation is the main opportunity for the preservation and development of villages.

Yuriy Bova, head of the Trostyanetska AH, told about the prospects for the village and local changes in the UCMC – DOBRE project “Speakers of Hromadas”.

There is no need to be scared of the reform. It now clearly meets people’s wish to live better. “Better life” is created not in Kyiv, it is created in small settlements,” says Yuriy Bova.

He says that by 2016 the hromada did not see the results of its earnings, as the funds were received by the rayon. Now, the AH sees its profits and expenditures “through the microscope” and becomes more interested in legalising business and workplaces. In 2018, the budget of the Trostyanetska AH amounted to about UAH 200 million. In 2019, they plan to increase the treasury by another 20%.

Yuriy Bova adds that the village becomes part of a capable hromada, that has its communal equipment, more experience, various specialists able to assist people in resolving problematic situations.

Sharing an example of Trostyanetska AH, Yuriy Bova says decentralisation is a major chance to preserve and develop the village.

“Those still non-amalgamated hromadas are a ballast that does not promote development. Show me a rural hromada that does not want to amalgamate just because it’s a rich village. This can be somewhere near Kyiv, where rich people live... And if you go to remote settlements, you'll see that there are no prosperous villages. You can find villages, where people simply live their last years, and children, who have already left, are trying to take parents from those settlements, since there are no services. In another 5 years these villages will disappear from the map. I support the fact that in 2019 the state should complete the formation of perspective plans and punish all those, who want to resolve some personal plans during these processes, for example, when at any oblast council level somebody owns the land of agricultural enterprises, and a deputy begins to dictate conditions building his/her "kingdom". The state policy should cut off such "kingdoms".

This reform is a fundamental change in the state, which should also launch other mechanisms: educational and healthcare reforms in the countryside.”

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