25 October 2016, Tuesday, 17:34 180

USAID Launches Program To Facilitate Decentralization In 25 Communities Of 7 Regions

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a program to facilitate decentralization in 25 local communities in seven regions of Ukraine.

David Weiss, the President and CEO of the Global Communities international non-government organization, and Manager of the DOBRE project Barry Reed announced this during a ceremony to start the program Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency (DOBRE), Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The communities for the program were selected on the ground of 61 applications.

Of 25 local communities selected for the program six are from Ternopil region, six communities are from Dnipropetrovsk region, four communities are from Ivano-Frankivsk region, three communities are from Mykolaiv region, three are from Kherson region, two from Kharkiv region, and one community is from Kirovohrad region.

The other 50 communities for the program will be selected in 2017.

DOBRE is designed for five years. The total budget of the program is USD 50 million.

The funds will be allocated to local councils for introducing better management of resources and services, implementation of infrastructure projects, and introduction of e-government.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the United States Agency for International Development intended to provide Ukraine USD 142 million for supporting reforms.

USAID administrator Gayle Smith said that USD 70 million would be provided for supporting reforms in the Ukrainian energy sector, USD 50 million for supporting decentralization, and USD 22 million for judicial reform.

USAID is also interested in supporting the Ministry for the Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.