Online course "Starosta: steps to a successful start" was held on Community of Practice: Sustainable Development between September, 30th, and October, 26th. Out of 260 registered participants, 108 successfully finished the course.

The main goal of establishing the online course is developing an effective institute of starosta (village leader) by training local self-government leaders to professionally and effectively fulfill official responsibilities, use practical, both traditional and innovative management skills, to drive the reform on the local level.

The skills covered by the course were:
• determining primary responsibilities of a starosta, as well as other managerial roles, required for effective functioning of local self-goverment bodies
• defining problems of development of an ATC and starosta district
• building effective communication with the Head of an ATC, Council members and the public, represent and advocate for the interests of the inhabitants of a village and starosta district
• determining key resources for territorial development of the starosta district and the ATC in general
• forming a system of starosta's management tools for pushing the development of a starosta district

The structure of the course included 4 modules:
• Starosta: 12+3 steps to a successful start
• Starosta: communication and cooperation
• Starosta: accessibility of services and development
• Starosta: better practice

The online course also featured a competition - "The best starosta practice". The participants used the opportunity to share the successful solutions and projects in their practice. The winning cases were presented at the closing conference on October, 30th. The participants of the course jointly founded the Congress of Starostas, its Facebook community already has 280 participants.

The online course "Starosta: steps to a successful start" was held on the platform Community of Practice: Sustainable Development supported by the Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralization Support Project DESPRO by the initiative of the Dnipro division of Administrative Service Centre Institution. The tutors from the course partner, Dnipro Regional Institute for Civil Service of the National Academy of Civil Service under the President of Ukraine, supported the study process.

Learn more about the study programs on Community of Practice: Sustainable Development