Open meetings of the Zhytomyr Regional Branch of the Association of Communities of Ukraine (ACU) were held in Zvyahel, attended by authorized representatives from over 20 communities in the region, as well as representatives from three other regional branches of the Association.
Specifically, leaders from 11 communities in Rivne Oblast, two communities from Volyn Oblast, one community from northern Khmelnytskyi Oblast, as well as regional coordinators of ACU in Volyn and Rivne Oblasts participated. The Executive Directorate of ACU was represented at the meetings by the Director of Development – Deputy Executive Director of ACU, Ihor Abram’yiuk.
During the event, participants discussed key issues related to the activities of local self-government bodies (LSGBs), priorities, and directions of work of the branches. A representative of the Directorate outlined and elaborated on ACU’s position regarding the most important draft laws.
Community leaders, during the discussion, identified common problems characteristic of most Polissia territories. In particular, the most heated discussion revolved around current initiatives for “reforming” the forestry sector – local self-government has serious and well-founded concerns about the chosen path of transforming this critically important industry for the entire Polissia region. It was agreed to significantly increase the involvement of experts from Polissia LSGBs in the ACU Committee on Forestry Use – the association should take all possible measures to prevent negative scenarios of further developments.
The participants of the meeting extensively discussed the need to activate the activities of regional branches: the formation of branch councils (composed of members of the Board and heads of district branches), independent organization of regional and interregional events, and the establishment of cooperation between branches and regional and district state administrations and councils.
An important discussion took place around issues of institutional development of the association, as well as overall issues regarding the system of associations of local self-government bodies in Ukraine, and mechanisms of their interaction to form a unified voice of local self-government.
“The association is a membership organization, so our ability to influence state policy directly depends on the number and activity of association members. Regional branches can and should interact at the regional level even without the participation of Kyiv; the councils of regional branches should collectively address the most important issues of their organization’s activities. The Directorate is renewing the work started even before the full-scale war to activate the activities of the branches and will provide all possible assistance to the branches in organizing their work, as well as encourage the branches to interact with each other,” said Ihor Abram’yiuk.