On 26 July 2016, within the framework of the "Let's Change the Country Together! Decentralisation: New Opportunities" project, representatives of Luhansk Oblast had a number of meetings with the leaders of Vinnytsia Oblast and local self-government bodies. The second day of the round trip turned out to be very intense.
At the entrance point to the Oblast, representatives of the Vinnytsia region, headed by First Deputy Head of the Vinnytsia Oblast (Regional) State Administration Andrii Hyzhko, met the guests from the Luhansk region with a korovai (loaf) - the symbol of hospitality.  
Immediately after the meeting, they went to the village of Cherepashyntsi that is known to many rural officials because of its new water supply system of 18 kilometres long constructed with the support of the DESPRO Project. Also, the distinctive feature of Cherepashyntsi is the fact that all executive positions are held by women, with charming Ms. Natalia Chernysh, Head of the Village Council, at the head.
After a short presentation of the village and several meetings, the inhabitants of the Luhansk region went to Vinnytsia. On the way, Andrii Hyzhko told many interesting things about the peculiarities of Vinnytsia Oblast.
In the premises of the Vinnytsia Oblast (Regional) State Administration, the activists from Luhansk were met by Chairman of the Vinnytsia Oblast Council Anatolii Oliinyk, Head of the Vinnytsia Oblast State Administration Valerii Korovii, Deputy City Mayor Halyna Yakubovych, and representatives of the local self-government bodies. They made a presentation of the Oblast and communicated with the guests for more than two hours.


After that meeting, the inhabitants of the Luhansk region visited a modern city boiler-house plant run on bio-fuel that heats more than 80 thousand Vinnytsia inhabitants in winter.
In the conclusion of the busy day, the activists from Luhansk became aware of how a user-friendly administrative service centre should look like by the example of Vinnytsia Transparent Office.
After having come to an agreement on further cooperation, the participants of the "Let's Change the Country Together! Decentralisation: New Opportunities" project departed to the Ternopil region.
So, our story is to be continued!

Reminders:
The all-Ukrainian project "Let's Change the Country Together! Decentralisation: New Opportunities" started on 25 July 2016. The event was initiated by Yurii Harbuz, Head of the Luhansk Oblast 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 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.