With the support of the USAID Program “Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency” DOBRE, the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities (AAATC) held a seminar on the exchange of experience: “Municipal Cooperation of Territorial Communities. Experience of International Partners”.
The event took place in the Yasinia hromada of the Zakarpattia Oblast, and representatives of local self-government associations from Romania and the Republic of Moldova participated.
Official delegates of the Association of Communes of Romania (ACoR) presented the experience of Romanian municipalities.
Official delegates of the Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova (CALM) — experience of Moldova municipalities.
Brian Kemple, USAID DOBRE Program Director, welcomed the event participants and emphasized that the program has been closely cooperating with Ukraine’s territorial communities (hromadas) since 2016.
“Our goal is to help hromadas take advantage of the opportunities and overcome the challenges of decentralization. We provide our partner hromadas with technical and material assistance in several areas, including inter-municipal cooperation. Hromadas are very different but share common interests and face similar challenges. We encourage and support hromadas in getting to know each other, working together, and learning from each other. The Association also plays a vital role in this. The DOBRE program has been closely cooperating with the Association for several years. The Association brings hromadas together, provides them with important information, shares experiences and gives hromadas a more effective voice at the national level. It is crucial because hromadas must prosper for Ukraine to prosper. I congratulate the Association for a significant contribution in this direction,” said Brian Kemple.
Oleksandr Korinnyi, the All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities Chairman, thanked Brian Kemple for supporting Ukrainian hromadas.
“Let’s win together! And our hromadas will prosper and develop, and our citizens will return home after the victory and rebuild a new, even better Ukraine,” stressed Oleksandr Korinnyi.
Taras Dobrivskyi, the Executive Director of the AAATC, presented the results of the Association’s international activities and the work of the thematic platform, which the Association created a year ago with the support of the USAID DOBRE Program.
Yasinia Settlement Mayor Andrii Deliatynchuk opened the practical part of the event. He presented his hromada to Ukrainian and foreign guests, potential investors, and partners.
The Mayor thanked the USAID DOBRE Program for support and assistance in organizing the event, congratulated partners and friends from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, noted that Ukrainian hromadas are sincere and open to cooperation with foreign municipalities and their territorial communities, ready to start mutually beneficial partnerships.
The seminar participants shared their experience organizing international cooperation and preparing and submitting international projects and grant applications. European colleagues presented their municipalities, counties and regions. They talked about their experience of organizing communities, transforming the structure and activities of local self-government bodies before joining the European Union, ways of sharing and popularizing European values and introducing the best practices of good governance.
The seminar discussed cooperation needs and expectations and promising directions for possible collaboration. Participants agreed to deepen and expand contacts and organize further meetings.
Let us remind you that in August 2023, the AAATC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Association of Communes of Romania.
Background information on the activities of the International Platform of AAATC:
The Association has created a particular English-language website, www.en.hromady.org, which contains detailed information for foreign partners.
The Association actively cooperates with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), conducting joint surveys of hromadas. Based on the results of these surveys, the Association participates in training.
AAATC became a member of the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) and actively participated in its activities.