With the support of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, representatives of municipalities from the Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts spent three days in the Ternopil Oblast studying the positive experience of establishing and effective operation of institutions and facilities providing social, medical and educational services under martial law.
The delegation visited Velyki Hayi, Zboriv, Ozerniansk and Khorostkiv municipalities of Ternopil Oblast.
“The development of social and humanitarian spheres is a priority in most municipalities of Ukraine. In the context of martial law, it is important to maintain a balance in spending in different areas and look for additional sources of funding, as there are certain difficulties in filling local budgets. The development of education, culture and medicine is impossible without the introduction of innovative management solutions. The Ternopil municipalities have some experience in this area and interesting practices that can be useful for other Ukrainian municipalities. The exchange of experience has a positive impact on the implementation of new management approaches and helps to find alternative ways to solve certain problems,” said Nataliia Onyshchuk, head of the U-LEAD with Europe Regional Office in Ternopil Oblast.
Modern healthcare, youth coworking centre and support for IDPs: best practices of the Velyki Hayi municipality
On the first day of the visit, Velyki Hayi municipality shared their experience. The guests from Zakarpattia and Prykarpattia visited the Administrative Service Centre, the PavuTyna multifunctional youth space, local primary healthcare and cultural institutions, and a residence for IDPs.
“Our municipality is one of the first to be established in the Ternopil Oblast. We united because we realized that this would be an impetus for all of us and would allow us to effectively develop rural areas. We paid a lot of attention to strategic planning, which allowed us to draw a vision of our municipality and understand the areas in which we need to develop education, healthcare and the social sphere in general. I am glad that we have a good team of professionals who are passionate about their work and strive to develop their municipality,” said Oleh Kokhman, head of the Velyki Hayi municipality.
The guests got acquainted with the work of the unique social and sports school of the Real Madrid Foundation. The Real Madrid Foundation’s social and sports schools are a global project that successfully exists in more than 78 countries. For the first time in Ukraine, a school of this kind was opened in the Velyki Hayi municipality. One of the school’s priorities is to create and support social charitable projects. The school works with socially vulnerable children: boys and girls aged 6 to 16 at risk of marginalization due to difficult family circumstances, without means of subsistence, orphans, half-orphans, and children from multi-child families.
The school’s social program includes tuition assistance, foreign language learning, optional classes based on interests (dancing, music and other arts), intellectual games, excursions, picnics and various clubs.
During the meeting, they also discussed the implementation of veteran policy in the municipality. It should be noted that the village head has created a special position of an advisor on veterans’ policy, which makes it possible to establish high-quality work in this area.
The participants of the visit attended the house for internally displaced persons in Kozivka village, which was renovated at the expense of the local budget and grant support.
“Thanks to cooperation with U-LEAD, we have a new vision and development prospects. Communication with colleagues from other municipalities, discussion of certain issues and exchange of experience are very important. I discovered Ternopil Oblast and its municipalities in a new way. It seemed that only the agricultural sector prevailed in this oblast, but we see that different areas are developing in local municipalities. Municipalities are trying to introduce various innovations in the management of the social and humanitarian sphere, which are worth borrowing and implementing in our municipality. Everything we see and hear turns into experience that can later be used for the development of the municipality or starosta district,” said Stepan Milchevych, head of the Bohdanivka municipality.
Zboriv municipality: international cooperation and developed infrastructure for social rehabilitation
The Zboriv urban municipality shared their experience of international cooperation and grant projects in the development of social and humanitarian institutions.
“Our municipality has 53 settlements, which creates certain difficulties in planning and implementing social projects. We try to keep a balance and support the social and humanitarian direction, despite all the challenges we have to face. We have some achievements in this area that we are happy to share with our colleagues,” emphasized Ruslan Maksymiv, local municipality head, in his welcoming speech.
He said that before the establishment of the municipality, the city of Zboriv did not have any international partners. Now the municipality is actively working on this. For example, they have two partner cities: Ternohrad (Poland) and the municipality of Bjerkreim (Norway).
Thanks to cooperation with these cities, the municipality managed to attract additional resources for development and gain reliable partners for the implementation of new projects in the social sphere.
The delegation visited the social rehabilitation department at the local Centre for social services. The facility has modern repairs and equipment, which was made possible by the quality project work of the team and the support of international partners. The department provides rehabilitation for 20 children living in the municipality. Experienced professionals work with them using modern methods of social rehabilitation. The children in the facility make shoppers, play interactive games, learn and develop.
“I was honoured to be part of a delegation of municipality leaders and visit four Ternopil municipalities. I was inspired by what I saw. We visited very interesting and effective municipalities. It was valuable to communicate with our colleagues, who shared the achievements of their municipalities, and we could analyse this, taking into account the situation in our own. For example, while communicating with the leadership of the Zboriv municipality, we found common working interests related to the purchase of a car for a mobile medical brigade with the help of a subvention. They shared important information and advice with us, which is very valuable to us. In general, it was interesting to hear about their experience in optimizing the educational network, developing medical facilities and other social institutions,” says Halyna Didych, manager of the Horodenka municipality.
The guests also discussed the work of educational and medical institutions with the leadership of the municipality.
The contribution of local business and private initiatives to the development of social and humanitarian institutions: Ozerna municipality’s experience
In the Ozerna rural municipality, Nazar Romaniv, secretary and acting head of the municipality, discussed with his colleagues the role of local business and private initiatives in the development of social and humanitarian institutions, sharing several of their cases.
Later, the guests from Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts visited a shelter in one of the educational institutions, which also serves as a public space.
“We started renovating the basement back in 2016. First, we wanted to repair the gym, for which private funds were allocated. Subsequently, we decided to renovate the entire basement, including the installation of ventilation, sewage, water supply, and other communications. All locations: gym, library or fitness room are equipped with modern inventory,” said Nazar Romaniv.
It should be noted that this location is home to a youth space, the grant for the arrangement of which was prepared by local youth with the support of U-LEAD with Europe experts. The shelter also has a modern boxing hall, a dance studio and a sports room.
“I am pleasantly surprised by the trip to the Ternopil Oblast. I am impressed by the achievements of local municipalities. In our community, we will work on implementing certain practices seen in Ternopil municipalities, taking into account our realities and opportunities. I am sincerely grateful to the organizations for this trip, for what I saw and the new experience gained for my work and our development,” said Oleksandra Viter-Lubevych, head of the Bukachivtsi municipality.
New ASC, modern infrastructure of educational institutions and cooperation with local business: practical cases of the Khorostkiv municipality
The final day of the study visit for representatives of the Prykarpattia and Zakarpattia municipalities was held in the Khorostkiv municipality.
The visit began with a meeting with the municipality leadership at the local lyceum, where the participants were able to learn about the achievements of the Khorostkiv city council and discuss the development of the social and humanitarian sphere.
According to the deputy head of the municipality, Petro Slipets, since the municipality was established, many projects have been implemented in various areas. He noted that these projects were implemented in different Starosta districts so that people could feel the changes at the local level brought by the decentralization reform.
Olha Melnyk, Head of the Department of education, culture and sports of the Khorostkiv city council, told the audience about the work of the municipality’s educational institutions. She noted that with the support of U-LEAD experts, they managed to create a centralized accounting department, which helped to structure and establish a number of financial processes.
Subsequently, the delegation visited one of the municipality’s educational institutions — Khorostkiv Lyceum No. 1, which was overhauled within the framework of the Big Construction program. The institution has new repairs, new equipment and a modern shelter for the safety of the participants in the educational process.
Petro Slipets emphasized that the Khorostkiv municipality pays a lot of attention to communication and cooperation with business. Thanks to this model of work, they managed to establish quality partnerships with local businesses that pay taxes, develop and help implement new projects in the municipality.
The study tour participants were able to visit the Interfom-Zakhid enterprise, which belongs to the Interfom group of companies and is one of the largest producers of polyurethane foam (foam rubber) in Ukraine.
The final location of the trip to the Khorostkiv municipality and the entire visit was the local Administrative Service Centre in the format of the Diia-Centre. It should be noted that this centre was one of the first to be built and opened in the Ternopil Oblast.
“It is very good that U-LEAD with Europe has started organizing such trips within Ukraine. International trips are also extremely important, but for me personally, visits to Ukrainian municipalities are very useful, as our practices are much easier to implement in our country. During this trip, I learned a lot for myself and the Kolochava municipality. Each municipality we visited left us with positive impressions. While one municipality has extremely developed healthcare, another has a modern educational infrastructure. Therefore, all municipalities had something to share and boast about,” Vasyl Khudynets, head of the Kolochava municipality, summarizes his participation in the study tour.
