Professor Georg Milbradt, Special Representative of the German Government in Ukraine for Governance and Decentralisation Reforms, visited Lviv Oblast
The main topics of discussion during the visit were the activities of the Lviv Agglomeration Association, cooperation of hromadas with each other and with regional executive authorities, as well as development of international partnerships in times of war.
Professor Milbradt and the U-LEAD team met with the Executive Director of the Lviv Agglomeration Association and the heads of the Horodok, Kulykivka, Zhovtanets, Zolochiv and Zabolotsiv territorial communities. During the meeting, the experience of establishing the Association and the specifics of cooperation between small communities and a large city were presented.
The heads of the communities shared their expectations from the cooperation, in particular in terms of developing joint projects and raising funds for their implementation. It was emphasised that a significant number of such projects are financially burdensome for communities, and they do not always have the ability to provide the necessary funding on their own.
The experience of attracting additional financial resources during martial law, in particular through project activities, was also discussed. The community leaders also emphasised the importance of cooperation with international partners, both long-standing and those with whom partnerships were established during the war. Professor Milbradt praised this experience of the Lviv Oblast communities and expressed interest in the mechanisms for establishing and maintaining cooperation with foreign partners.
“The practice of establishing and developing partnerships between Lviv Oblast communities and European municipalities should be shared with communities in other oblasts of Ukraine that do not have such partners abroad and do not know how to find them,” said Professor Milbradt.
In addition, Special Representative Milbradt and Bastian Veigel visited the Bibrska urban community, which is a member of the Lviv Agglomeration Association and has considerable experience in attracting financial resources for development projects. The head of the community, Roman Hrynus, shared practical examples of fundraising and the results of cooperation with international partners.
Professor Milbradt was interested in the areas of the community’s activities in the current environment, key challenges and ways to address them, as well as issues of coordination with district and regional authorities that require additional legislative regulation.