Each oblast state administration should form a capable network of public service delivery in graphic and text form. The deadline is 1 December 2019. Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk has set this task for local administrations. The context is the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power. The objective is to formulate a vision of what and where to do so that people everywhere have equal access to all the necessary quality services. The goal is to provide comfortable living conditions for people both in the countryside and in the city.

How to do it? Today MinRegion has held thematic training for deputy heads of oblast state administrations and representatives of the relevant departments. The Ministry also involved representatives of various other ministries carrying out sectoral reforms.

Alyona Babak, Minister of Development of Communities and Territories, and Vyacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister, met with the participants of the training.

Alyona Babak stressed that a capable network of public service delivery to be formed by the oblast state administration, will, among other things, provide yet non-amalgamated hromadas an answer to the question “why they should unite and how it will change the quality of life on their territory”.

“We often hear from people who say that five small poor communities amalgamate into one large poor amalgamated hromada. It is still difficult for them to see what really lies behind such an amalgamation, and it is difficult to understand where they will take more resources for development. A capable network of public service delivery prepared by each oblast will give an answer to this question. For example, if now a firefighting service unit is in one-hour access to hromada or more, then a capable network will show where there is a need of a fire station, so that firefighters reach the hromada in no more than 20 minutes. Ministries have developed standards for all services – safety, educational, medical, social, administrative, cultural, sports ones. A capable network will be based on these standards,” Alyona Babak informed.

Hromadas will benefit from the financial resources without which it is difficult to provide quality service through the rational optimisation of the service network. In addition, budget decentralisation enhances the financial capacity of hromadas. For example, the budgets of amalgamated hromadas, as well as the budgets of cities of oblast significance, receive 60% of PIT, which is one of the major budget-forming taxes. In addition, the draft state budget for 2020 foresees UAH 9.5 billion for regional development (State Fund for Regional Development). However, it will be possible to raise these funds for major repairs or construction of a new facility in a hromada, if the facility is provided by a capable network of public services.

Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Nehoda emphasised that a developed powerful network of services would be a effective management tool for the oblasts.

“It is not possible to effectively manage the oblast without having the database of the networks in question. And you do not have to bother with what and where to do with a certain resource when the oblast has a clear picture of a capable network. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done in the short term, but in the future it will be a good help in accomplishing the tasks and reform of local self-government, regional development and sectoral reforms,” said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

We recall that the MinRegion prepared a geoinformation map of the existing network of public services. It displays 25 networks – more than 100,000 facilities.