The first working visit of the representatives of the Nekhvoroshchanska amalgamated hromada to Poland is underway. This time, Yuriy Movchan, head of the AH, and Oleksandr Lymar, deputy head of the hromada, came to Lublin Voivodship. During the visit, the leaders of the most southern hromada of the Poltava Oblast will get acquainted with the best practices of communal enterprise running, functioning of educational, cultural and social protection institutions of the Polish gminas (communities). In addition to the Poltava Oblast residents, the Ukrainian delegation includes representatives of the AHs from seven other oblasts – those who became partners in the implementation of the project “New Amalgamated Hromadas: How to Successfully Manage Local Development”.

On the first day, the guests from Ukraine visited gmina Konopnitsa. They got acquainted with the infrastructure, visited the administrative building, saw local schools and cultural institutions. An absolutely voluntary community rescue service is organised at the highest level. By the way, the gmina’s head Mirosław Żydek is a hereditary firefighter.

Then the guests got acquainted with gmina Gościeradów, that is almost similar to the Nekhvoroshchanska AH. Here agrarians are the budget-forming enterprises as well. Ukrainians visited a local school named after John Paul II. At school there is a branch, where a kindergarten is located. Then they visited the centre for people with mental and physical disabilities, located in the former palace. At the end of their stay in Gościeradów, the guests saw the centre for pensioners (similar to the territorial centre).

At the end of last month, the representatives of the Manager Initiative Foundation, headed by Pawel Prokop, Chairman of the Board, made an introductory visit to the Nekhvoroshchanska AH. Then the plan for further cooperation of the Lublin and Poltava Oblast hromadas was outlined within the framework of the “Polish Aid-2018” Programme. The residents of the Nekhvoroshchanska AH will soon attend trainings and seminars for various manager categories, representatives of educational sector and local business representatives. There are also visits to Poland and return visits of Polish experts planned. Such cooperation should result in creation of the Strategic Development Plan of the Nekhvoroshchanska AH. Iryna Balybina, director of the Poltava Local Government Development Centre, established with the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme and MinRegion, stated: “The expert pool of our Centre held a careful and thorough selection of the Poltava Oblast partner to participate in the project of the Polish Foundation. The choice of the Nekhvoroshchanska AH is not accidental, as now the hromada has enormous potential: territory, human capital, powerful agricultural enterprises, adequate local and foreign business. It remains only to take advantage of opportunities and successfully adapt the European experience to our realities.”