On 22 December a new modern Administrative Service Centre was opened in the rural settlement of Irshansk in the Zhytomyr Oblast. With the establishment of the Centre, over 7 500 hromada residents have received the access to more than 100 types of administrative services. Registration of residents, notary, social, pension, land services, business and real estate registration are among the most popular among the AH residents and will be provided in the new ASC.

The centre was established according to the European standards, and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme assisted the hromada in interior reconstruction, institutional establishment of the ASC, as well as in equipment of the centre with furniture and modern technology with specialised software.

The ASC of the Irshanska AH has 6 workplaces for specialists, who passed advanced training, specially developed by the Ukrainian and Swedish experts of the Programme.

Susanna Dellans, Project Manager of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme’s Support to Improved Administrative Service Delivery, said: “The Centre’s opening was the result of our fruitful partnership with the Irshanska hromada. And, despite the fact that it is the final stage of our cooperation, it is just the beginning for the hromada. It is the beginning of quality administrative services and quality changes that the hromada can implement through decentralisation reform. We are very glad that the Swedish experience in providing convenient and affordable administrative services has been considered in the ASC establishment, and I am sure that now the residents of the Irshanska AH will receive quality services in comfortable conditions.”

Anatoliy Rak, head of the rural settlement of Irshansk, expressed his gratitutde to the U-LEAD with Europe Programme:

“We are extremely grateful to the international partners for this wonderful opportunity received by our hromada. The new Centre will become a step towards a modern and high-quality format of administrative service delivery. Due to the Swedish and Ukrainian experts, our hromada received not only a new ASC, but also qualified specialists, who have undergone special training and will now provide high-quality services to our residents.”

On the eve of the opening, the residents were informed about the features of the ASC work, its advantages, rights and obligations of employees and consumers of services. The Centre is accessible to people with disabilities and has a children’s indoor play corner.

It is worth reminding that 26 ASCs will be opened in Ukrainian amalgamated hromadas within the framework of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme which aims at improving the delivery of local administrative services. The best practices for creating and improving the delivery of administrative services that are tested and implemented in the pilot hromadas of the inception phase will be applied to all ASCs to be opened or modernised within the next phase of the Programme. That is at least 600 ASCs by the end of 2020.