SALAR International Visits Ukraine to Collaborate on Municipal Recovery
SALAR International team visited Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions and held several meetings in Kyiv in March to discuss current needs for development and recovery.
The main purpose with the visit was to follow-up on the results and ongoing activities of SALARs two project’s Prosto and DSP as well as to further the insights into the recovery needs of municipalities.
The delegation conducted the trips to the Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions, where they met with three municipalities in each region and with the Regional State Administration of both oblasts. During the trip in Zaporizhzhia SALAR International visited three liberated and war-affected municipalities, which have received crisis support from the Prosto project in 2023, additionally delivering a vehicle to provide services in remote areas to Mykhaylo-Lukashivska Hromada.
At a meeting with the leadership of Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration urgent needs of local governments and Administrative Service Centres (ASCs), as well as new areas for further cooperation were discussed.
Sweden is a very friendly country, our faithful partner and donor. We are sincerely grateful to the Project for providing expert support, involvement of our staff in training programs, and material assistance for our ASCs. Today's realities show how important the assistance of international projects is when most of the budget funds are allocated for defense measures”, said Ruslan Movchan, First Deputy Head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration.
Ruslan Movchan, First Deputy Head of Zaporizhzhia regional Military Adminsitration & Artur Boyko, Head of the Department for external Relations and Foreign Economic activity of Zaporizhzhia regional State Adminsitration and regional Military Administration.
Despite the temporary occupation of a large part of the region and constant shelling the regional authorities, together with the hromadas, continue to work to improve the quality of administrative services and restore the ASC network after liberation of territories.
Helping the hromadas of Zaporizhzhia, which are one of the most affected by Russian aggression, is one of the priorities of our work in Ukraine. The resumption of public services provision is a very demanded issue in liberated hromadas and we will continue to help local self-governments to strengthen their capacity to do this efficiently”, said Aleksandr Mazurkin, Project Manager of the PROSTO project "Support to Services Accessibility in Ukraine".
In Chernigiv region, SALAR International visited the Bobrovytska, Nosivska and Novobilouska hromadas, partners of the DSP and Prosto project, as well as the Chernihiv City and the Oblast Military administration. During the meetings hromadas work with improving service accessibility, education and inter-municipal cooperation as well as plans for recovery was highlighted.
“SALAR International is a powerful Swedish organization dedicated to strengthening local self-government, developing regional democracy, and supporting best practices in municipal development. Many thanks for your visit to Chernihiv and fruitful communication to the head of SALAR International Ryan Knox and project manager Sanna Rosen. The Swedish experience in the development of local self-government is especially interesting and useful. We hope for effective cooperation and implementation of joint projects, as well as partnership with Swedish municipalities”, said Nataliia Kholchenkova, Head of International Relations and Investments Department of Chernihiv City Council, Chernihiv Councilwoman.
The insights gained from the visits will enhance the ongoing process of the Swedish support of Ukraine, focusing on strengthening the hromada's capacity to address the pressing needs for recovery.
In Kyiv SALAR International met with the Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine to discuss current needs and SALARs plans for continued support to decentralisation and recovery in light of the EU integration process in Ukraine.