Earlier, the team of the Regional Office in the Donetsk Oblast held an online meeting, where they presented this year’s opportunities for cooperation between the municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.
“Local self-government bodies and local military administrations are endowed with a wide range of powers. Giving the frequent legislative changes and new operational objectives, their officials need comprehensive consulting support, clarifications and advice. U-LEAD experts are actively working on this, constantly studying and analysing requests from municipalities. The key task of our team is to promptly help the municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast. For this, we need to be in constant dialogue. The municipalities should be informed of the useful activities offered by the Programme, and we, in turn, should have information about the urgent needs of the municipalities,” said Victoria Trotsenko, Head of the Regional Office in the Donetsk Oblast.
According to her, in 2024, U-LEAD’s support will be based on three directions: reforms, recovery, reconstruction and sustainability. The greatest focus will be on thematic training programmes and consulting of representatives of local self-government bodies and military administrations of settlements regarding the strengthening of municipal capacities and rebuilding on the ground.
The participants of the event learned about the comprehensive training programmes and other initiatives offered by U-LEAD.
Initiatives that can become a high-quality platform for starting new international partnerships for the municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast were underlined separately. This kind of cooperation is critical in the conditions of war, as it enables finding new approaches and support for the recovery and development of Ukrainian municipalities.
Andrii Riabukha, U-LEAD Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government in the Donetsk Oblast, spoke about the participation of municipalities of the oblast in events organised for them by U-LEAD in 2023. According to him, experts from Donetsk municipalities attended 78 events and were active participants in training programmes.
“Despite significant complications in the exercise of their powers, municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast were active at our events in 2023. And the representatives of the Illinivka municipality even had an internship experience with their counterparts from the Romanian commune of Panaci.”
During the event, officials from municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast were interested in potential support in reconstruction, development of relevant strategic plans, humanitarian demining, social services, creation of safe spaces and other areas.
U-LEAD in the Donetsk Oblast is grateful to the participants of the event for their efforts and invites them to join the next events of the Programme.