The winners of the creative competition for pupils on "My 10 Steps as the AH Head" visited Minregion and the House of Decentralisation, where they talked with officials and experts implementing the decentralisation reform in Ukraine.

This visit was organised by the Zhytomyr Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and MinRegion, for the pupils, who wrote the best compositions. The joint project of the Zhytomyr LGDC and Ivan Franko State University of Zhytomyr finished on 26 April, when the names of the winners were announced, and the trip to Kyiv became a kind of gift for the children.

"Children should get acquainted with the secrets of functioning of the authorities and international projects while still at school. The sooner they understand the algorithms of work of the authorities, business and society, the sooner will they adapt and start changes," assures Vasyl Nevmerzhytskyi, director of the Zhytomyr LGDC.

Children were met at the House of Decentralisation by Alexandra Fehlinger, Deputy GIZ Programme Director of U-LEAD with Europe, who spoke about U-LEAD’s activities and answered questions from guests interested in the results and plans of the decentralisation reform. Besides, the pupils joined an excursion through the office of the institution.

Then, the winners of the competition visited the office of MinRegion, where they spoke to the representatives of the Ministry that is the engine of the reform.

"Our key work is the development of hromadas, and in these office rooms we develop decisions that are subsequently implemented in hromadas. Today, these children are watching and trying to understand these complex processes, and already tomorrow some of them will come here and propose their ideas. This is exactly the purpose such competitions are necessary for," said Liliya Popova, head of unit for interaction with local authorities of the Department of Local Self-Government and Territorial Organisation of MinRegion of Ukraine.

In total, 40 pupils from 15 AHs of the Zhytomyr Oblast participated in the competition. Six winners of the contest went with their teachers and parents on the excursion to Kyiv.

"In my composition I wrote a diary of the AH head, which outlined my plans for hromada development. After this trip I understand how important it is for all hromada residents to join the development of territories, because the head will not change anything alone," convinced Sofia Hrabina, winner of the competition.