Organizations and institutions involved in local government development and municipal services in Ukraine : final report

Decentralization of state power in Ukraine is an important component of the process of democratization of society. The process of decentralization is complex and unique by its character, and its implementation and study involves both governmental and non-governmental, civil organizations, analytical centers, international organizations, and donors. This report is aimed at the description of most known organizations involved local government and municipal development in Ukraine. Local government in Ukraine is a new phenomenon: under the Soviet regime, local councils at different levels (village, town, city, raion, oblast) were only parts of the centralized state system and could not be considered as local governments. “We still see hospitals, public cultural centers, and schools as state institutions, though now they are under the jurisdiction of local government, which is not state government by definition” (see Kobets 2001: 3). Taking into account the uniqueness of the process of development of local government in Ukraine, it is necessary to present the brief description of both the structure of local government, municipal services, and laws, which are the bases of their development. The first section of this report is devoted to this issue, in particular, the structure and the history of development of local government, local budgeting, municipal services, and public transportation are considered in this section. The other sections of the report are devoted to the review of organizations involved in the development of local government and communal services. Governmental organizations and institutions (section 2), associations of the bodies of self-governance (section 3), regional development agencies, analytical centers, sociological institutions (section 4), and donors (section 5) are considered separately