This was a topic of a public discussion on “Transparent management of land and other hromada resources: authorities – hromada – business”, organised by USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Support Project

By Dmytro Synyak

Life in the Khrestivska AH of the Kherson Oblast is divided into “before and after cooperation with USAID”. It is because of this cooperation that the hromada has received considerable impetus for development. This was discussed during public discussions on the topic: “Transparent management of land and other hromada resources: authorities – hromada – business” at the premises of the Dolynske village club in the Khrestivska AH.

The most interesting was the performance of Valentyna Naydionova, land manager of the Khrestivka village council.

“Due to careful accounting of all resources, first of all land, carried out by the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Support Project, we now know that 540 hectares within the settlements, intended for the construction and maintenance of residential buildings, are subject to privatisation,” said Ms. Naydionova. “And outside the settlements, 900 hectares, intended for private peasant farming, should be privatised.”

The hromada has never known so much about its own resources. The results of the joint work in the form of maps and measures for future use of the territory were subsequently made freely available – can be seen here.

In total, 79 hromadas from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts participate in the Local Systemic Development Programme. The Programme aims to assist hromadas in effective management of land and other resources within amalgamated hromada based on GIS technologies; developing AH capacity to attract investment; taking into account the interests of local governments, businesses and the third sector.

The Khrestivska AH is the only model hromada in the Kherson Oblast, or the hromada of the so-called short list. In total, there are 10 such hromadas, and on their example, the Programme tried to show what a complete electronic system of accounting for all hromada resources, especially land, would look like.

“The Khrestivska AH has a huge resource potential compared to other hromadas,” summarised Kateryna Rieznikova, head of the technical department of “Bluminfo-Ukraine”, directly involved in the creation of digital maps. “You have an active local business and residents. However, if you want to attract investors, the information on the AH geoportal should always be relevant. Start making everything transparent and your hromada will significantly increase its investment attractiveness. These e-maps are not the goal of our project, but a tool, and you should be able to use it.”

The public discussions at the Khrestivska AH were held with the support of the Local Systemic Development Programme, implemented in partnership with Bluminfo-Ukraine LLC, DESPRO NGO and the Kyiv Economic Institute within the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Support Project.

You can see how the discussion went on here.

The full version is available in Ukrainian – please click HERE