Next year UAH 500 thousand are planned to be allocated for non-interest loans to develop small business in the Baranivska AH (Zhytomyr Oblast).

According to Anatoliy Dushko, Head of the Baranivska AH in the Zhytomyr Oblast, the above-mentioned hromada won the European Union contest and will soon receive a grant allowing it to fund three key projects to change the hromada’s life fundamentally.

“At the end of May, with the support of the Civil Society Institute, we submitted our conceptual ideas to take part in the contest,” said Mr Dushko. “We united these ideas under the general title “Creation of youth agrarian cluster”. The project involves several areas. The first one is the establishment of a cheese dairy in one of the villages of our hromada, where one of the entrepreneurs has already started building a farm for 1000 heads of cattle. The second direction is the construction of a covered market in the city centre on a land area of ​​1600 square metres. According to our plan, the market should be not only a place for trade, but also a kind of a local theatre to rest. The third direction is the purchase of refrigerators to freeze berries, which are numerous in the nearby forests. Our project has won the contest. We are currently approving its budget, so I cannot specify the funding volume and specific conditions. Instead, I can say that all contracts must be signed by the end of the year.”

According to Anatoliy Dushko, next year the Baranivska hromada plans to focus on the support of local entrepreneurship.

“In the next year's budget we plan to allocate about UAH 500 thousand for the development of small business, and will announce appropriate contests,” continues Mr Dushko. “This assistance will be a kind of non-interest loan that will have to be repaid later. Perhaps some hromada residents will be willing to breed geese, ducks, turkeys, goats... We should give people a sort of “fishing rods” to catch fish. It will enrich both the people and the hromada.

Anatoliy Dushko told about the plans of several entrepreneurs to grow and process flax in the Baranivska AH, since the Zhytomyr region has long been famous for flax growing. He also said he is negotiating with Odesa-based investors about constructing a small thermal power plant operating on wood waste on the hromada’s territory. There are many forests and several sawmills on the AH’s territory, therefore there will be no problems with the raw material. The preliminary cost of the project is USD 7 million.

The head of the hromada shared a successful experience in implementing energy projects. In September 2017, a small hydroelectric power plant with an installed capacity of 382 kW was opened in Baranivka. It is estimated to produce 1 713 400 kW/h per year.  The hydroelectric power plant will operate at a “green tariff” till 2030. The project was implemented and invested with about USD 21 million by the “Science Innovation Production” company.

The conversation took place within the framework of the joint "Speakers of Hromadas" project of the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre and the DOBRE programme.