MinRegion has changed the parameters of the oblast's ranking for the formation of capable hromadas. From now on, the ranking does not take into account the number of established amalgamated hromadas (AHs) in the oblast, and the population and area indicators consider not only AH data, but also that of the cities of oblast significance. The oblasts’ ranking is also influenced by the number of rayons in the oblast with no amalgamation processes in action, as well as the number of cities of oblast significance that have adjoined neighbouring hromadas. A parameter of the oblast’s territory coverage by the perspective plan has also appeared.

“The ranking should reflect how the region's development capacity is increasing. And at this stage of decentralisation, AHs’ number is not so important, as their involvement in the reform. At present, the processes of hromadas’ accession to AHs and cities of oblast significance are intensifying. Large cities finally become the territory development centres. We have to focus on this. We cannot avoid indicators in rayons with no AHs, as they demonstrate how far it is possible in the oblast to overcome skepticism and resistance to the reform at the rayon level”, commented Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, on the updated Monitoring data of decentralisation of power and local self-government reform as of 10 February 2019 (DOWNLOAD 5.5 MB).

According to new parameters, the Zhytomyr Oblast returned to the first place in the ranking. The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast holds the second place, being the eighth last month. The Volyn Oblast left five leaders and moved to the sixth place.

The Vinnytsia Oblast has significantly decreased its position in the ranking, while the Zakarpattia Oblast remains an outsider, having still no perspective plan for hromadas’ formation.

The monitoring also shows that the number of hromadas, benefiting from the cooperation mechanism, continues to grow: already 1262 hromadas are jointly implementing 325 intermunicipal cooperation agreements.

The monitoring has also for the first time reflected how much money is envisaged in the State Budget for the development of each region. It is worth mentioning that in general in 2019, UAH 20.75 billion are planned in the state budget for the development of regions and hromadas, which is 41.5 times more than in 2014.