On September 23, a modern Administrative Service Centre (ASC) was opened in the town of Tyachiv, Zakarpattya.

Created by Ukrainian and Swedish experts, the Centre will offer local residents a wide range of administrative services, including national ID cards and passports for travelling abroad. The Centre was established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe programme’s Component 2, Inception Phase.

The Tyachiv ASC will deliver 60 administrative services, including the most in-demand ones such as housing subsidies, registration of residence and removal of residence registration, land services, real estate registration, preparation and issuance of national ID cards and passports for travelling abroad.

It should be noted that the Tyachiv Amalgamated Community became one of the first communities in Ukraine to issue national ID cards and passports for travelling abroad at the premises of its Administrative Service Centre.

Refurbishment and renovation of the premises, as well as procurement of passport equipment, was provided in the framework of the U-LEAD Programme Component 2, Inception Phase. Furthermore, the ASC staff took special and advanced training conducted within the Programme. Revenues from these administrative services will be credited to the local community budget. The Centre will employ 8 experts on a full-time basis.

Improved accessibility to and quality of administrative services are among objectives of the decentralization reform that has been implemented by the government of Ukraine since 2014. The Tyachiv community has used the reform tools to ensure its territorial development and create a comfortable environment for every community member.

The Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine expressed its greetings to the residents of the community as the Administrative Service Centre opens up some new opportunities for them.

“The opening of the Centre is an important achievement made by the community and one of many other tasks to be completed. It is good to see that the community welcomes changes and works hard towards their goal of creating a comfortable living environment for every person. The ASC acts as a spokes-model for local government and represents real quality changes in the community”,

said Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

Martin Hagström, Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine, said:

“The trust in the ability of the public administration to live up to the expectations of the residents increases, when they obtain high quality services from the public sector. By “high quality” I mean improved accessibility to the service itself, as well as delivery of the service fast and on time. I have learned that the Administrative Service Centre in Tyachiv, the establishment of which the U-LEAD programme has contributed to, will be providing biometric passports and national ID cards. This means that the residents of Tyachiv will not need to travel around 140 kilometres to apply for these documents. This is a very good example of how service provision can be improved through making them accessible to the residents. This in itself is a very important step forward, and I am happy that Sweden in cooperation with the EU and other donors can contribute to this”.

The Centre will allow more than 9,000 community residents to enjoy barrier-free access to administrative services. The modern ASC is designed under the European standards to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. There is an indoor play area for children.

The ASC is located in the centre of Tyachiv at 5 Neresenska Street and operates 6 days a week.

It should be reminded that 26 ASCs will be opened in 2017 within the inception phase of U-LEAD Programme Component 2, including the Tyachiv Administrative Service Centre.  

The best practices for creating and improving the quality and delivery of administrative services that are tested and implemented in 26 pilot communities of the inception phase will be applied to all ASCs to be opened or will be used to improve the work performed under U-LEAD Programme Component 2. That is at least 400 ASCs by the end of 2020.