The all-Ukrainian project "Let's Change the Country Together! Decentralisation: New Opportunities" starts on 25 July 2016.   The event was initiated by Yurii Harbuz, Head of the Luhansk Oblast (Regional) State Administration, and supported by the DESPRO Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralisation Support Project in Ukraine.
Its objective is to study positive examples of decentralisation in Ukraine and share the experience of development of rural areas in the course of a one-week tour from East to West of Ukraine.
The participants in the project will include village heads, representatives of the amalgamated territorial communities, Rayon (District) State Administrations, city mayors, leaders of the Luhansk Oblast (Regional) State Administration. During the tour, they will go all over Ukraine, visit the amalgamated territorial communities in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Lviv, and Zakarpatska Oblasts (Regions) and will have an opportunity to adopt experience of those communities.
During the journey, the participants will meet the leaders of Oblasts, heads of the amalgamated territorial communities, representatives of local self-government bodies. The topics for discussion include new possibilities for communities, development of rural areas, cooperation with investors, arrangement for high-quality education in communities, improvement of the healthcare system, budgetary processes, prospects, and development of long-term plans.
Representatives of the hosting party in each Oblast will show the most interesting practices and projects which are implemented in the region, tell about territory development strategies, and solution of key issues related to the decentralisation process.
Also, the guests will be able to personally share their experience in solving pressing issues and share their most successful methodologies and developments.
Yurii Harbuz, the Head of the Luhansk Oblast (Regional) State Administration, said "The European and international experience proves that local problems may be efficiently resolved at the local level only. The state will never be able to deal with the of each village or town, each street or household.
Decentralisation is the real way to improve the quality of everyday life of the inhabitants of a village, town or city. And our task is to promote the establishment of efficient, economically feasible communities to the maximum extent possible."
- Oksana Harnets, the Manager of the DESPRO Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralisation Support Project in Ukraine, commented: "Communities in different regions of Ukraine have a very different pace of development, and there are many reasons for it. Usually, we provide powerful informational support to the most successful solutions and projects of the amalgamated communities, we try to make that experience known by others, but we understand that personal communication and familiarisation with the most successful practices is the most efficient information channel. We support this project so that knowledge and developments of the most successful communities are disseminated in other Oblasts and Rayons of Ukraine and promote their development".

DESPRO is the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralisation Support Project in Ukraine financed by the Swiss Confederation through the Swiss Cooperation Office (SDC) and implemented by the Swiss resource centre and consulting company (Skat).

Short link to the news: http://despro.org.ua/~A0frM