The experience exchange visit was organised for the municipalities of the Poltava and Cherkasy oblasts. The participants of the visit learned about best practices in the organisation of the provision of municipal services by a municipality under martial law and discussed the possibilities of implementing this experience by local self-government bodies. The study trip was organised by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.
As part of the visit, a delegation from the municipalities of the Poltava and Cherkasy oblasts visited the municipalities of Biloziria, Chyhyryn and Shevchenkove in the Cherkasy oblast and learned about their experiences.
“Visits for the exchange of experiences between municipalities are as relevant as ever even in wartime, since self-government bodies face new challenges that need to be addressed promptly. During such a difficult period for our country, successful management decisions are worth their weight in gold, and we are happy to contribute to interregional ties, which in the future will become the basis for effective interaction between municipalities from different regions,” said Iryna Balybina, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Poltava oblast.
According to her, during the visit, the representatives of the Poltava oblast were particularly interested in resuming face-to-face education, setting up bomb shelters as well as interdepartmental interaction of cultural and educational institutions to create local history projects aimed at patriotic education of youth and schoolchildren.
“After three years of online life, you especially appreciate the chance to communicate with colleagues from another region in person, to get to know their management experience and experience in addressing the challenges caused by war. We are grateful for this opportunity,” said Olga Khomenko, Deputy Head of the Nekhvoroshcha municipality of the Poltava oblast.
She noted a particularly interesting case of a project approach to the organisation of the provision of municipal services by the Chyhyryn municipality. Almost all municipal institutions use this approach: they have established a process of attracting additional resources from international partners for the work of institutions, which enables them not only to retain institutions and manage their work, but also to invest resources in their development.
According to Serhii Slynko, Head of the U-LEAD Regional Office in the Cherkasy region, the participants of the visit were able to learn valuable lessons from each other. This is another step towards strengthening interregional ties and developing effective interaction between municipalities of different regions.
“Such exchanges of experience allow heads of municipalities together with representatives of the Programme to acquire new knowledge, expand their professional potential and create a basis for the further development of our country.”
Following the trip, the members of the delegation from Poltava Oblast and the team of the Regional Office in the Poltava oblast decided to hold a round table on setting up bomb shelters in municipalities of the oblast, taking into account the experiences of their colleagues from the Cherkasy oblast. Any interested heads of municipalities of the Poltava oblast and representatives of the State Emergency Service are welcome to join the round table. The event is tentatively scheduled for August this year.
Moreover, according to Iryna Balybina, the Poltava oblast is preparing to share experience and best management practices with the municipalities of the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as early as in September.