On 4 November 2025, the presentation of the project ‘Together for Better Services: Inter-Municipal Co-operation in Lviv Agglomeration’ took place. This initiative is implemented with the support of the Council of Europe. The event was held in a hybrid format, bringing together representatives of local communities, authorities, experts, civil society organisations, media, and business.

The purpose of the event was to present to the communities of Lviv region a new grant project aimed at strengthening co-operation among the 12 member municipalities of the Association ‘Lviv Agglomeration’, which are jointly working to improve the quality of public services in the field of solid waste management and to promote the sustainable development of the region.

A key focus of the project is the creation of an effective solid waste management system within the agglomeration. In particular, it foresees the development of a Joint Lviv Agglomeration Strategic Solid Waste Management Plan for 2025–2035, the preparation of an inter-municipal co-operation agreement, and public awareness campaigns to promote a culture of responsible waste management among residents.

Roman Kizyma, Executive Director of the Association ‘Lviv Agglomeration’, opened the event by emphasising the importance of partnerships between communities:

‘Today, we are launching not just a new project, but a shared approach to managing territories in which every community feels like an equal participant in the process of change.’

During the panel discussion ‘Inter-municipal cooperation as the basis for modern governance’ experts discussed how partnerships between communities could improve the efficiency and transparency of governance, encourage citizen participation and promote Ukraine’s EU integration. The participants also agreed to set up a working group on inter-municipal cooperation to coordinate the implementation of the planned decisions.

Inter-municipal cooperation is a democratic development tool that enables communities to collaborate on issues that extend beyond the boundaries of specific territories, such as waste management, transport, energy, the environment and spatial planning.

The Lviv agglomeration, which comprises Lviv and its surrounding communities, is already demonstrating how to implement joint projects effectively and make strategic decisions that focus on residents’ needs. This approach is regarded as an innovative model of multilevel governance that could be adopted by other regions of Ukraine.

The project ‘Together for Better Services: Inter-municipal Co-operation in Lviv Agglomeration’ is implemented under a Grant Agreement with the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine as part of project ‘Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery’, which is implemented as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine ‘Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction’ for 2023–2026 by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.