APPLICATION OF REGIONAL MANAGEMENT INSTRUMENTS TO ENSURE TERRITORIAL COHESION IN THE REGIONS AND COMMUNITIES OF UKRAINE
Authors: TSYNALIEVSKA I.A. 
Published: April 2024

Topicality. The article considers the main tools for ensuring territorial cohesion in Ukraine including those identified considering EU Cohesion Policy practical results and studies of European scientists regarding instuments of the territorial cohesion, as well as those, that are proposed by autor in view of the challenges of regional development instruments’ application in Ukraine derived from an analysis. The essence and method of harnessing for each of the territorial cohesion tools proposed by the author, in view of implementation of the Ukrainian State Strategy for Regional Development for the period 2021-2027, are also given.

Aim and tasks. The aim of the article is to study instrumental provision of the state regional policy in Ukraine within the framework of ensuring cohesion for territories and communities in Ukraine, as well as, to propose recommendations for its improvement. The realization of aim is through the following tasks: to investigate the instrumental basis of the EU cohesion policy in the aspect of ensuring spatial development, to propose tools for ensuring territorial cohesion for the regions and territories of Ukraine, including adapted EU instruments and original ones with regard to the temporal and spatial context, and the institutional basis for ensuring cohesion in the regions and communities of Ukraine, as well as to analyze the tasks of the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period 2021-2027 to ensure cohesion in the state with regard to the use of these tools.

Materials and methods. A methodological base of the research is based on results of comparative analysis and theoretical generalisation of modern scientific views and empirical observations regarding application of EU cohesion policy tools in the appropriate spatial and temporal aspect, which were highlighted in publications of both analytical and practical nature. A descriptive analysis was used in order to identify practical challenges of formation of institutional environment for stimulating development of economic growth points and ensuring conditions for their practical activity. Based on a synthesis, a hypothesis of the study was put forward i.e. the author's vision of instrumental provision of territorial cohesion for Ukraine, including tools of regional management, which are relevant in modern conditions in regions, districts and communities of Ukraine.

Research results. The article considers the main tools for ensuring cohesion from the point of view of the European Union countries’ experience, which can be adapted to the modern realities of Ukraine, and also offers original tools that, in the opinion of the author, in view of the temporal and spatial context, correspond to the institutional base for ensuring cohesion in regions and communities of Ukraine. Within a framework of the current research, regional management tools have been identified, the use of which promotes territorial cohesion in the regions and communities of Ukraine, i.e.: (1) cooperation, (2) coordination between different sectors of the state regional policy and local policies, (3) incentives, in particular fiscal and financial, (4) improvement of an institutional environment for stimulation of economic growth points’ development and ensuring conditions of their practical activity, (5) effective management of common resources, (6) raising awareness of the essence and goals of cohesion within implementation of state regional policy and local development strategies, (7) information - creation and accumulation of an information base for assessing dynamics of territorial cohesion , (8) education - organisation of improvement of educational schemes for specialists in public administration, territorial development and spatial planning, (9) benchmarking of progress in better use of underused territorial potential and overcoming problems of a territory, (10) dialogue and consultations - formation of a platform for discussions / workshops for working groups of stakeholders of neighboring communities and consensus tools for finding consensus in controversial issues of territorial development, (11) building integrated development strategies and (12) digitalization. The essence and method of using each of the proposed tools for ensuring cohesion in the context of current legislation and practice that has developed in the context of the implementation of the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period 2021-2027 in recent years in the regions and communities of Ukraine is also given. The article also analyses the possibility of using the proposed tools in the aspect of ensuring cohesion in the state, as a task of the State Strategy for Regional Development for the period 2021-2027.

Conclusion. The results of the study enable to identify obstacles, which impede maintenance of territorial cohesion in regions and communities of Ukraine by means of using regional management instruments. Based on the research results, it is concluded that in practice, the EU cohesion policy toolkit is not fully implemented in Ukraine. So, not enough attention is paid to the tools of stimulation and construction of integrated strategies. The tools of regional management must be implemented in a specific territorial context for the formation of effective and viable strategies for both regions and individual communities. In addition, encouragement through various types of funding (including grant projects for the development of the territories of individual communities and several adjacent communities) would serve as a necessary prerequisite for the active involvement of interested parties in the development and implementation of projects for the development of territories, forming an initiative from below, and not within the framework of funded projects through the State Regional Development Fund, which must correspond to the State Strategy for Regional Development.