Seven years ago, in  April 2014, the Government of Ukraine adopted the Concept of the reform of local self-government (LSG) and territorial organization of power. This document outlined the main directions the decentralisation process was to take and remains valid until this day. At the time when the Concept was adopted, there were around 12 000 municipalities in Ukraine. The majority of them had a population size of less than 3 000 citizens, in around 4800 of them lived even less than 1000 inhabitants. A majority of municipalities lacked important institutional preconditions such as the executive bodies and communal enterprises preventing them from executing vital functions of LSG. As one of the key solutions to this challenge, the Government of Ukraine defined the ‘identification of the justified territorial basis for the work of LSG bodies and the bodies of executive government, able to provide accessible and quality public services… and resource basis needed for this.’ Looking back, April 2014 is often referred to as inaugurating of the LSG reform in Ukraine.

With the adoption of the law ‘On voluntary amalgamation of municipalities’ in 2015, the process of voluntary amalgamation began. Over the course of five years (2015-2019) approx. 5000 territorial units voluntarily merged into 1049 municipalities! This way, after five years of administrative-territorial reform, around 44% of all existing municipalities were engaged in a reform process[1]. On 12 June 2020, the Government of Ukraine adopted 24 orders defying the centers and configuration of 1470 municipalities, in this way, finalising the administrative territorial reform at the basic level.

The administrative-territorial consolidation process, which was a core element of the decentralisation reform, has been recognized as having been one of the most successful reform elements Ukraine implemented since 2014. The voluntary nature of the process and the numerous stimuli provided to municipalities were vital to creating the basis for the sustainability of the unprecedented transformation brought underway.

In order to highlight the significance of change accomplished, U-LEAD with Europe developed the web-based  application demonstrating the dynamics of the administrative-territorial reform in 2015-2020. It enables tracking the progress of amalgamation in each region, demonstrates the key data about existing municipalities and shows the change in municipalities’ basic characteristics (population, area, number of settlements and territorial configuration).

The application provides an overview of how the reform gradually changed the territorial setup of the country, how municipalities transformed over years. This gradual change reminds us that for 5 years the reform was accompanied by major discussions, consultations and involvement of stakeholders at all levels which happened in Ukraine in such a scale for the first time. Therefore, the application features the reform as the process, highlighting its continuity for five years. While the application demonstrates the dynamics per region, one could also engage in cross-regional analysis.

The application will be useful not only to local and state officials, but to a wider audience: scholars, journalists, civil society activists and the general public. It aims at awareness raising on the major transformation affecting all citizens of Ukraine. In order to facilitate the user’s experience, we prepared a short video explaining all the features of the application. You can see it HERE.

“Since 2016 U-LEAD with Europe, the Programme has supported the voluntary amalgamation across Ukraine. Together with MinRegion, we implemented a multitude of trainings, awareness raising activities and communication efforts to make the reform a success. For us, it is an honor to be part of this strong alliance to bring government closer to the people. We created an application to visualise the successful amalgamation process over the course of the years. I am sure that many users will find this tool helpful” said Mr. Bastian Veigel, GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe.

“Voluntary amalgamation was one of the first stages of the local self-government reform, hence, one of the most difficult ones. It was an impressive experience of reaching compromises, which was the step forward in achieving a better quality of life. In this way, step by step, first voluntary amalgamated hromadas and then their successors have been transforming not only maps of regions, but minds of people, proving that all depends on their will, their decisions and tireless work. Hromadas that amalgamated voluntary have been proving reform’s effectiveness and by this, extending the circle of its supporters. This process has become a history carved in space. One can refresh how it happened also by using this application” - commented Mr. Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister at the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development.

Please note that the application was developed based on the data provided by MinRegion.  In case you find any inaccuracy, which might have occurred in the process of programming, please, inform the Programme by writing an e-mail to pr.u-lead@giz.de