Intermunicipal cooperation is an effective tool aimed to solve the common problems of hromadas in different areas. That is why hromadas use this tool more and more often. This can be seen in the data of the monitoring of the decentralisation process and local self-government reform which is conducted by MinRegion on the monthly basis.

Cooperation of hromadas in Ukraine received a legal basis immediately after the start of the local self-government reform in 2014. Following that, 956 hromadas have signed cooperation agreements. In the previous month alone, 40 such agreements were signed by hromadas. The most popular areas of cooperation are housing and communal services, development of territories, fire protection, education and healthcare.

Vyacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, noted that the intermunicipal cooperation tool is much more actively used by hromadas in regions with a slow pace of amalgamation.

“For instance, the Poltava Oblast only ranks 20^th among 24 regions in terms of the amalgamation of hromadas. However, there are almost 500 hromadas in this oblast which cooperate in many areas on the basis of agreements. In the Vinnytsya Oblast, approximately 100 hromadas make use of intermunicipal cooperation. The Kharkiv Oblast is getting closer to them as well. Experience makes it clear that intermunicipal cooperation is one of the first steps towards amalgamation into capable hromadas. That is why, those who are still too scared to amalgamate, could start changes in their hromadas through cooperation”, said Vyacheslav Nehoda.

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