Support to Decentralisation in Ukraine 2014-2020 - Support to Decentralisation in Ukraine Stöd till decentralisering i Ukraina 2014-2020 An Association Agreement with a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement was signed between Ukraine and the EU on the 27th of June 2014. In line with Ukraine’s commitments towards the EU, the Government through the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Municipal and Housing Economy of Ukraine had in early 2014 turned to the Embassy with a request for support for a decentralization and local self-government reform. The Embassy through Sida commited itself to support the Government of Ukraine in its reform efforts. The request has since then been discussed further both with the government and with other donors. In spite of a considerable amount of earlier preparatory work in this area, the present crisis situation makes the reform complex and politically very sensitive to implement. Several donors have expressed willingness to help, but until now coordination has been weak and it has been difficult to divide roles clearly.During the Inception Period, SKL has identified three major areas of intervention: - Education Decentralization;- Fiscal Decentralization and- Reform Communication.Since the project is coming to the end of its first phase, there is a plan to extend the current intervention both with funds (13 430 248 SEK) and with the activity period to allow preparation of the full fledged project document for the next 4 years programme. Thus, the total amount of the contribution is 52 180 248 SEK. The extension shall also be used to conduct feasibility study for some of the areas, which are to be further piloted during the second phase - symbiocity, cooperation with the parliamentary committee on local self governance and the work with the association of amalgamated hromadas. The Embassy works with the Swedish Association of local Authorities and Regions (SALAR), as the organisation possesses a unique competence in the area of decentralisation and local self governance. The total amount includes VAT, which is a result of how SKL is organised. Ukraina undertecknade i juli 2014 ett Associerings- och frihandelsavtal med EU och förpliktigade sig därmed till ett fortsatt reformarbete för att närma sig EU. Den ukrainska regeringen, representerad av Ministeriet för regional utveckling, begärde stöd tidigare i år via Sveriges ambassad i Kiev till den planerade reformprocessen inom decentralisering och lokalt självstyre. Begäran har diskuterats med relevanta aktörer, såsom andra givare och det civila samhället. Den politiska utvecklingen och konflikten med Ryssland i de östra regionerna av Ukraina är faktorer som kommer att påverka de komplexa reformprocesser som väntar Ukraina. 

I början på april 2014 antog regeringen, ledd av  premiärminister Yatseniuk, ett koncept för lokalt självstyre samt territoriell styrning. Huvudmålet är en decentraliserad suverän ukrainsk stat som säkerställer enighet och dess regionala mångfald. Ändring av den ukrainska konstitutionen är en förutsättning för att reformen för decentralisering och lokalt självstyre ska kunna genomföras fullt ut.

Det planerade stödet behöver vara flexibelt och anpassat till den ukrainska kontexten som för närvarande domineras av konflikten mellan Ryssland och Ukraina. Flexibilitet behövs för att politiska beslut som kan påverka genomförandet av insatsen fattas löpande. 

Implementerande och rådgivande partner genom första fasen är Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting (SKL). Sida väljer att arbeta med SKL då organisationen besitter kärnkompetens inom området lokalt självstyre och decentralisering. SKL kommer att upphandla kompletterande tjänster hos SKL International genom ett ramavtal mellan SKL och SKL International. Civil Society Institute (CSI) är och har varit en central aktör i reformförberedelserna, och det kan bli aktuellt med ett mer formaliserat partnerskap inklusive vidareförmedling av Sida-medel. Detta är något som kommer att analyseras och beslutas om vidare under den första fasen.

Insatsen kommer att implementeras i två faser. Den första fasen löper mellan den 8 september 2014 och den 28 februari 2015, och den andra fasen mellan den 1 mars 2015 och den 31 december 2017. Den första fasens aktiviteter innefattar kortsiktigt stöd samt planering för den andra fasen. Ingen vidareförmedling av medel planeras under inceptionsfasen. Fas två innebär långsiktigt stöd till den ukrainska regeringen genom Ministeriet för Regional Utveckling. Vidareförmedling av medel kan under denna fas komma att bli aktuellt. Det avtalade beloppet inkluderar moms, vilket har sin grund i hur SKL är organiserade. Avtalsperiod sträcker sig från den 8 september 2014 till 30 juni 2018.

Det övergripande målet med insatsen är att erbjuda analytiskt stöd samt kapacitetsbyggande stöd och rådgivande stöd till den ukrainska regeringen inom decentralisering och lokalt självstyre. Det rådgivande stödet skall inkludera områden såsom lokalt självstyre, ekonomiska aspekter av decentralisering och deras implementering, sammanslagning av regioner, samt samarbete mellan lokala administrationer.  Komponenterna skall bidra till de ramverk som tas fram på dessa områden. Decentralisation is a one of the top priorities in the extensive reform programme that has been undertaking since 2014 after the Revolution of Dignity. The new Government formed in 2019, has continued the reform of local self governance and has declared it as one ot its key reforms to modernise the country. The Decentralisation Support Project (DSP) arose from a request from GOU to the Swedish Embassy in Kiev, seeking support for Ukraine’s decentralisation and local self-government reform. The project is implemented by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) in cooperation with its subsidiary SKL International. It started in September 2014 with a six-month inception period to analyse the context. On the basis of that analysis the main phase of the project (from Mar 2015 to Dec 2017) focuses on two sectors: education decentralisation and fiscal decentralisation, with reform process management and reform communication as cross-cutting result areas. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthened democracy, improved governance and better service delivery to the citizens of Ukraine.  In 2017, SKL International approached Swedish Embassy with a request to launch the second phase of the project - mainly focusing on the education decentralization and fiscal decentralization, as well as support to the newly established associations of amalgamated hromadas. Since, Embassy believes current project activities can be better adjusted to the current government priorities and political context, as well as the recommendations of the mid-term evaluation for the Reform Cooperation Strategy shall be properly accounted in the future support, Swedish Embassy recommended SKL to prolong the activity period till mid 2018. The additional costs in total 13,4 MSEK were required to close the gap between the two project stages and allow for the smooth transition from the ongoing activities towards new one, like piloting municipal development and innovations into the cities. Meanwhile, the project team has started elaboration of a new application for a new phase of support to the decentralization programme based on the results achieved so far and expanding the scope of the programme to target the parliamentary committee of local self governance.  DSP has a number of key features that characterise it and in some cases distinguish it from other SALAR or Sida projects: first, it is not a peer-to-peer collaboration with another organisation but rather support to a decentralisation process in general. Second, it is designed to respond flexibly to requests for support from GOU leading to thirdly, it being an opportunity-driven project that can adapt to changes during the project lifetime. Fourth, it focuses on values that form the basis of democratic societies in Europe including Sweden, such as transparency, accountability towards citizens, evidence-based decision making, anti-corruption and respect for human rights.  The general methodology is to provide advisory, analytical and capacity building support to key stakeholders at national level, in order to establish proper analytical and evidence basis for policies and reforms, and improve individual and institutional capacities for managing reforms. It has included everything from legislative and policy drafting to individual coaching sessions, mentoring, tailored training and technical support.