FUNCTIONING OF CAPABLE TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE: SOCIO-GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS
Authors: SKLIARSKA Oksana 
Published: November 2022

The article analyzes the results of the activities of territorial communities in 2020-2021, as well as the methodology for determining their capacity, from a socio-geographical perspective. The main advantages of reforming the basic level of the administrative and territorial system are indicated, the main trends and factors of the formation of successful communities are revealed.

The methodology of the formation of capable territorial communities, defined by the authors of the reform, contains criteria for the size, population, accessibility zones of new administrative centers, as well as the presence of social, educational and household infrastructure. Such communities of villages, towns, and cities are considered capable, which, as a result of voluntary association, are able to independently ensure the appropriate level of services provision in the field of education, culture, health care, social protection, housing and communal services, while taking into account personnel resources, financial support and infrastructure development of the corresponding administrative and territorial unit. At the same time, the financial capacity and infrastructural security of a territorial community depends on many socio-geographical factors: favorable location, effective use of the socio-economic and demographic potential of community centers, development of transport links, etc.

In particular, it was found that communities of regional centers, large cities, as well as satellite communities of these cities or with a powerful business sector have the best financial indicators. Large enterprises of wealthy communities are the main tax payers and jobs provider for residents, as well as sponsors of the construction of social infrastructure facilities (kindergartens, sports complexes, etc.). An interesting fact is that the rating of the most successful communities in 15 regions of Ukraine is headed by rural communities. A significant number of communities have not benefited from financial decentralization and the level of their subsidy is more than 50%.These are communities in general, with a significant share of the rural population, where there are not enough jobs, the entrepreneurial sector, and, accordingly, tax revenues.These are also large communities of sparsely populated areas with a demographic crisis situation, where there are problems with the transport connection of villages, remoteness from the center of the community. We counted the number of communities by region that at the end of 2021 had a subsidy level of more than 50% and the number of those with a subsidy level higher than the average for Ukraine (14.5%). Thus, the maximum number of subsidized communities is in Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions. In the Lviv region, only in Strilkivska and Borynska communities, subsidies amount to more than 50%. In general, in the 16 regions of Ukraine, rural communities are the most subsidized: the 5-8 poorest communities in each region are mostly rural and peripheral, only 1 urban - Vatutinska, the rest ones - townships.

The question of the capacity of the community is also related to the controversial changes that are taking place regarding the optimization of the network of secondary education institutions. Support institutions are being created in urban and town communities, as well as in the centers of rural communities, which receive a larger amount of funding and better conditions for development. On the other hand, subsidized communities cannot finance small rural schools. Over 2 years in Ukraine, the status of almost 670 schools was lowered, and 918 schools were closed, and this process will continue in the future.

Therefore, the self-organization of the population and local authorities in communities has become an important factor of self-defense and resistance in the conditions of a full-scale invasion of the Russian aggressor. Thus, after the end of the war, the support and provision of self-government of territorial communities will become an important condition for the reconstruction of the state. At the same time, it will be necessary to improve the mechanism of formation of local budgets, as well as the methodology of determining the capacity of territorial communities

Consequently, in a special period, it is worth providing exclusively state financing of educational and medical institutions, especially in the front-line regions. Obviously, it will not be possible to avoid another stage of consolidation, primarily to ensure the real capacity of territorial communities in areas with a deep crisis demographic situation. Using the potential of capable communities, developing their infrastructural and industrial base will contribute to strengthening the grassroots link of the administrative and territorial system as well as to ensuring the national security of the state.

Key words: capable community, decentralization, financial capability, infrastructural capability.