On 15 November, residents of the Vilkhovetska amalgamated hromada in the Zakarpattia Oblast celebrated the opening of two new objects, such as a proper Administrative Service Centre and an Inclusive Resource Centre for children with special needs, which is equipped for the expense of state subsidies.

The ASC in the village of Vilkhivtsi created with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme will provide 144 services for 13,000 residents of the hromada.

The ASC is located in a two-storied building of a former house of culture that is completely reconstructed by the hromada and equipped for people with disabilities. On the first floor of the new Centre, there are six working places for administrators. Each of these places are equipped with the furniture and computers. Two stations for issuing foreign biometric passports and ID-cards acquired by the hromada’s funds are placed in the institution. In the nearest future, remote workplaces of administrators, who have also received equipment from the Programme, will start working in the three mountain starosta districts of the Vilkhovetska AH.

Ihor Shynkaruk, Deputy Head of the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration: “The Vilkhovetska hromada is an example of how joint work should take care of several directions of the region’s development at the same time. It is the development of youth in the form of an inclusive children's centre, which students can engage in sports in the excellent conditions and quite soon bring glory to their native village. It is about the development of the service state as a modern, light and available for each Administrative Service Centre, which will provide services at the completely new level.”

All staff of the new Centre took five modular training programme on improving skills developed by Ukrainian and Swedish experts of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

Ihor Bryhilevych, Regional Specialist of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme: “I am glad that the Programme’s experience together with the request of the hromada’s leaders for development made possible to create the ASC in the village of Vilkhivtsi. From now, every resident of the hromada will have an opportunity to use high-quality administrative services in modern conditions, but it is very important that each of you also have an opportunity to assess the work of new institutions and to offer an own vision of their future formation, and therefore to influence the development of the hromada and the village in general.”

The support of the Programme continues and soon the staff of the Centre will receive access to modern software complex for automation of ASC, such as “Vulyk” developed by the EGOV 4 UKRAINE Project within the U-LEAD with Europe Programme. Each employee of the ASC will receive training on work with the “Vulyk”.

Mykhaylo Tsiryk, head of the Vilkhovetska AH: “Residents of the Vilkhovetska hromada have proved once again that the desire to build a region backed by daily work gives real results. And our international partners also proved their readiness to help in the most important things - education, knowledge and experience that can be always used.”