On 26 January, a new Administrative Service Centre was opened in the Zolotnykivska AH of the Ternopil Oblast, with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

The Centre will provide over 9,000 hromada residents with an access to high-quality administrative services. Registration of residents, notarial, social, land-related services, business and real estate registration are among the most popular among the residents of the AH.

The centre was established in accordance with the European standards, and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme assisted the hromada in interior reconstruction, ASC institutionalisation, as well as furnishing and equipment of the centre with modern appliances with specialised software. 5 job places have been created in the ASC of the Zolotnykivska AH for specialists who passed advanced training, specially developed by the Ukrainian and Swedish experts of the Programme. Prior to the emergence of the new ASC in the hromada, its residents were forced to overcome the distance of over 30 km to the nearest centre.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman was on his working visit to the Ternopil Oblast. He took part in the opening of the ASC, spoke to the hromada residents and made sure that administrative services were provided in a high-quality way on the example of a residence registration certificate.

Volodymyr Groysman noted: “I would like to express my gratitude to the international partners for their support of decentralisation in the country. This is the reform that made me, as a mayor, work for the central government. When we talked about hromadas’ amalgamation in 2014, nobody believed in it. But today I am glad when hundreds, and now thousands of leaders who assume responsibility for the well-being of the hromada residents, are gathering at the forum of the heads of amalgamated hromada.”

Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, also congratulated the residents of the Zolotnykivska hromada and emphasised: “The decentralisation reform in Ukraine is a story of impressive success and return of the initiative into the hands of local hromadas. Due to this reform, people now solve many important issues related to local social and economic development on their own. The EU will continue to support the reform through consultations and trainings in a variety of areas, such as budget management, spatial planning and economic development. Among other things, the EU will support the establishment of up to 600 new administrative service centres in new hromadas that will bring important administrative services closer to those who need them.”

Kameran Khudur, First Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden to Ukraine, SIDA Programme Director of U-LEAD said: “Due to our fruitful partnership with the hromada, over 9,000 citizens have received convenient access to quality administrative services. We are very pleased that when establishing the Centre, Swedish experience in providing convenient and accessible administrative services was used. I am convinced that the ASC opening will enable the hromada’s further development and increase the living standards of its residents.”

Danylo Buhay, Head of the village of Zolotnyky, expressed his gratitude to the U-LEAD with Europe Programme: “With the assistance of the international partners we received a wonderful opportunity to provide the residents of our hromada with the administrative services in a modern and high-quality format here in Zolotnyky. In addition, 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.”

Prior to 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 should be emphasised that 26 ASCs will be opened in Ukrainian amalgamated hromadas within 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 26 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.