On October 11, a modern ASC was opened in Kipti amalgamated territorial community. Created by Ukrainian and Swedish experts, the Centre will offer a wide range of administrative services, including the most in-demand services among the community residents such as housing subsidies, real estate registration, land utilisation, social security and pension services.

Kipti ASC will deliver nearly 100 administrative services and employ five full-time administrators and five remote specialists. The Centre will allow nearly 4,000 residents of Kipti community to enjoy convenient and high-quality access to administrative services. Revenues from the administrative services will be credited to the community budget

Refurbishment and renovation of the premises as well as procurement of software was provided in the framework of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme: improving the delivery of local administrative services. Furthermore, the ASC staff took part in the advanced training conducted within the Programme and improved their competencies. Leading Ukrainian and Swedish experts developed five training modules for future ASC staff in the amalgamated territorial communities of Ukraine. It should be noted that the training programme has a significant focus on supporting gender equality. The ATC residents to be employed by the ASCs learn about gender equality in a separate training module

Improved access to and quality of administrative services are important objectives of the reform of local self-government and territorial organization of government that has been implemented in Ukraine since 2014. Kipti ATC has used the reform tools to ensure its territorial development and create a comfortable environment for every community member.

Mr. Martin Hagstrӧm, the Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine said: “The trust in local administration is one of the most important success indicators of the decentralisation reform and a key pillar of community prosperity. Therefore, quality and accessibility of administrative services in many cases are those criteria the residents will look at when building their attitude to local authorities and assessing their effectiveness. I have learned, that the ASC in Kipti will be providing more than 100 administrative services and revenues from paid services will go to the local community budget. I believe this is a very good example of how reform tools can be used to further community development. I am happy that Sweden in cooperation with the EU and other donors can contribute to this.”

The Chairman of Kipti amalgamated community, Volodymyr Kuchma, thanked the U-LEAD with Europe Programme for the significant contribution in establishing the Administrative Services Centre in Kipti community and noted that the newly opened ASC will introduce a new approach to service delivery by ensuring fast, transparent and barrier-free services in a welcoming and comfortable environment.

Prior to the ASC opening, an awareness-raising campaign was conducted to help Kipti community members have a better understanding of the ASC operations and benefits, as well as the rights and responsibilities of the ASC employees and service users.

The modernised ASC is designed under the European standards to ensure access for people with disabilities. There is also an indoor play area for children

The ASC is located in the centre of Kipti village at 36b Slovianska Street and operates 5 days a week.

It should be emphasised that 26 ASCs will be opened in 2017 within the pilot phase of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme: improving the delivery of local administrative services, including Kipti Administrative Services Centre.

The best practices for creating and improving the 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 modernised within the U-LEAD with Europe Programme. That is at least 400 ASCs by the end of 2020.