“One man in the field is not a warrior” - this saying perfectly reflects the essence of intermunicipal cooperation. The Myrhorod community proves by its own example that joining forces with neighboring communities is the way to joint development and improvement of the lives of its residents. Here's how the community, with the support of the USAID HOVERLA Activity, managed to establish a record number of partnerships for Poltava Oblast and what benefits the residents have as a result.

Myrhorod City started cooperating with neighboring towns and villages even before the Myrhorod community cluster was formed. As the city was a rayon center, it had some capabilities to provide services that its neighbors lacked. In particular, Myrhorod has a Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities, so this area of cooperation was the first in the city's experience. At that time, the partnership was implemented through intergovernmental transfer agreements, meaning that funds were passed from one community's budget to another.

In 2020, after the formation of the Myrhorod community, comprised of 37 settlements, it became necessary to distribute services in the district. Medical facilities were transferred to the Myrhorod community, while the local fire department remained in the other community.

“We and the neighboring communities decided that we needed to preserve services for the citizens of the newly formed communities. In particular, healthcare, social protection and fire safety were important. We realized that it was wrong to cooperate through interbudgetary transfer agreements, because we had to comply with the law on cooperation of territorial communities,” Oleksandr Hurzhiy, Secretary of the Myrhorod City Council, says.

Since then, Myrhorod signed 18 agreements and became a leader in intermunicipal cooperation in Poltava Oblast. However, in 2023, the community improved its work by finding a different approach. It reduced the number of agreements, but the number of collaborations increased. Myrhorod systematized its work and began to conclude agreements not with each community separately, but by sector. An example of this is a seven-party agreement on the provision of comprehensive rehabilitation services for children with disabilities.

“In this process, we were greatly supported by the experts of the USAID HOVERLA Activity. Together we have come a long way: we have developed standard solutions for initiating cooperation, granting consent to organize cooperation, and approving the agreements themselves. Thanks to the experts, we have developed our own version of the agreements, which suits both us and the neighboring communities. And we see that this work is effective,” Oleksandr Hurzhiy explains.

Today, the Myrhorod community has seven agreements in the following areas: healthcare (primary and secondary healthcare), comprehensive rehabilitation of children with disabilities, education (psychological and pedagogical services for children with special needs; psychological support and counseling for teachers), social protection (home care social service), and fire protection. Such cooperation is beneficial for residents of all communities, as they receive the services they need, even if there is no such institution in their community.

“It is not advisable for neighboring communities to create their own organizations if we have them. For example, we have a good rehabilitation center for children with disabilities. And in other communities, much fewer children need it. So the communities transfer funds to us, which we use to support our service providers. The most important thing is that this cooperation is done for people and benefits the residents,” Oleksandr Hurzhiy says.

The USAID HOVERLA Activity supports the Ministry of Communities and Territorial Development’s efforts in establishing inter-municipal cooperation among communities, which boost their comprehensive development.