“The Central Reform Office should become the communication hub of the decentralisation reform. Today we are working for the strategic success of Ukraine, and the Central Reform Office should become the place for all concerned and clever Ukrainians who want to change their country,” said Hennadiy Zubko, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Regional, Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, at the opening of the Central Reform Office for Decentralisation this Monday in Kyiv.

The decentralisation reform, amalgamation of hromadas, sectoral decentralisation, changing the quality of life of Ukrainians is a national strategy for success of Ukraine. The Central Reform Office will interact with regional centres of local self-government development whose leaders have already been selected in 24 oblasts of Ukraine and sectoral offices to support decentralisation in education, health care, spatial planning, culture, social care and other areas. "It is important that the heads of 367 AHs which will operate in Ukraine after 18 December are actively involved in this process, and their decisions are implemented exactly in the communication hub," the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

He explained that the Central Reform Office will be monitoring reforms on project implementation, financial successes, implementation of services at the local self-government level. "Implementation of the Central Reform Office supported by the European Union is extremely necessary. This is the start of a strong monitoring and analytical consulting centre," underlined Hennadiy Zubko.

Background information:

The Central Reform Office (CRO) will include 24 economically independent branches (Regional Centres) – one for each oblast. These Local Self-Government Development Centres (LGDC) will coordinate reform implementation at the regional level.

The opening of the Central Reform Office for Decentralisation was made possible due to the implementation of the U-LEAD Programme (Ukraine - Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Programme), funded by the EU and its member states Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Poland. The purpose of the programme is to support the Government of Ukraine in implementing the decentralisation reform. This includes among others providing expert advice to the MinRegion on the establishment of the Central Reform Office (CRO) and the newly established Local Self-Government Development Centres.