A long time ago, as early as 2014, a decentralization reform in Ukraine as a reform of local self-government and territorial organization of power, began. Its main goal is to create conditions for the formation of effective and responsible local authorities, capable of providing a comfortable and safe environment for people to live throughout the territory of Ukraine. The reform involves not only the transfer of powers and resources from state bodies to local self-government bodies, but also the creation of a basic subject of local self-government – a capable territorial community.
Within the framework of the decentralization reform the process of unification of territorial communities started in Ukraine, during which local self-government bodies faced completely new challenges.
To address urgent issues and improve inter-municipal consolidation on November 25, 2016 on the initiative of three OTG – Novoukrainsk City Council (Kirovohrad region), Pyriatyn City Council (Poltava region) and Novoborivska village council (Zhytomyr region) – All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities was established.
The All-Ukrainian Association of Amalgamated Territorial Communities as an all-Ukrainian association of local self-government is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organization. It bases its work on European-recognized approaches, building on the methodology recommended by the Council of Europe for local government associations and the practical experience of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR).
The organization was created to disseminate the best practices of modern and innovative community management, as well as to protect their legitimate rights and interests. In addition, it is designed to ensure the practical implementation of reforms and positive change in each community. All this is due to the constant dialogue and cooperation of local self-government bodies with all stakeholders, which contributes to the implementation of local self-government reform, decentralization and sectoral reforms.
Since its inception, the Association has brought together about 800 new communities from all regions of Ukraine as for the autumn 2023.