The scientific workshop “The directions of reforming the territorial organization of power” organized by the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project in Ukraine was held on 26-27 May in Pushcha Vodytsia, Kyiv.
The workshop was opened by Vasyl Demchyshyn, Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on State Building and Local Government, People’s Deputy of Ukraine. He noted that implementation of the administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine is extremely important, as far as most reforms are impossible without it.

Anatoliy Tkachuk, Director of the Civil Society Institute, focused his speech on the asymmetry in the development of rayons and noted that the territorial-administrative reform is aimed at elimination of this imbalance.

Yuriy Hanushchak, expert on administration of territories, presented the concepts of administrative-territorial structure and local government. Among the current challenges, he highlighted the processes of urbanization, which accelerate depopulation of villages, reduction of budget infrastructure at a distance of more than 15 km from rayon centres, and reduction of the need to employ the population in agriculture. In order to overcome these challenges, the expert suggested to coordinate the system of executive authorities and local authorities as well as to allocate authority among the levels according to the principle of subsidiarity.

According to the concept, the administrative-territorial units have to be inseparable (i.e. they shouldn’t have enclaves), they should have full and exclusive authority, a universal budget infrastructure, low rotation level, and they have to be resistant to demographic, political and economic challenges. While talking about the methods of forming the rayons, Yuriy Hanushchak identified its three main ‘pillars’: infrastructure, healthcare and budget (public) institutions. According to the document, the administrative-territorial management (ATM) will have three levels: oblast, rayon and community. Oblast powers will include vocational education, specialized assistance in health care, specialized cultural and social institutions, social and economic development. Education at boarding schools and general inpatient health care institutions will be included in rayon powers. The community as a basic level of ATM will have the following powers: secondary and primary education, general programs of cultural and social assistance, primary and preventive health care activities and improvement/beautification of territories (housing and communal services, roads within the settlements, public transport). Among the executive bodies, the territory of a community should have the following institutions: the police, the state treasury, sanitary-epidemiological and veterinary control, the department of justice and the pension fund, social and civil protection of the population.

The concept implementation involves four stages: preparatory stage (2011); formation of socio-political framework for the reform (early 2012); creation of the communities and regulation of the rayon division (2012); provision of a wider range of powers to the local authorities in rayons and regions (2013 - 2015).

The event was attended by representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services, National Institute for Strategic Studies, as well as by representatives of oblast and rayon administrations.