As part of the experience exchange visit organised by U-LEAD, local self-government officials from the Volyn, Lviv and Ternopil Oblasts visited the Mala Liubasha, Zoria and Berezne municipalities of the Rivne Oblast. The visit focused on introducing financial autonomy of educational institutions, and each of these municipalities has its own experience.
“Our goal was to present best practices and successful solutions in education management and administration of educational institutions, with a special emphasis on ensuring their financial autonomy,” said Ruslan Syvyi, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Rivne region.
In the Mala Liubasha municipality, the participants of the visit learned in detail about how the Centralised Accounting Service for Educational Institutions is run. The municipality chose this format of accounting services to ensure compliance regarding the financial autonomy of educational institutions. In this municipal institution, each accountant leads a separate direction. Here, the guests observed the interaction of the Department of Education, educational institutions and the municipal institution providing accounting services.
The rural municipality of Zoria was the second one on the list. Members of the Village Council told the participants of the visit about the benefits of the creation of a municipal institution such as the Centre for Financial and Economic Services for Educational and Cultural Institutions for the municipal budget, as well as about the cooperation of the Centre and the institutions themselves. A peculiar aspect of the work of this municipal institution is that a specific accountant is assigned to each institution.
“Back in 2022, the Zoria Village Council established this municipal institution to provide financial and economic services to these institutions, and the municipality is already seeing the perks of such an approach. Our experts provided them with advisory support. We are positive that the experience of this municipality will be useful to colleagues from other regions,” said Ruslan Syvyi.
The municipality of Berezne was the last to receive guests. Its officials discussed with the participants the advantages and specific aspects of financial autonomy of educational institutions, as well as the reward system that encourages them to save on energy resources. This municipality chose a different path: each educational institution has its own accountant who helps the principal solve all financial issues.
One of the participants of the visit, Mykola Kozhushko, Deputy Head of the settlement of Kulykivka, Lviv region, shared his impressions of the trip to the Rivne Oblast:
“Our Kulykivka municipality has 9 educational institutions, including a supporting one. They are not financially autonomous, but we do understand that this is a legal requirement. The municipalities of the Rivne Oblast have already gone through this, and their institutions have become financially independent. We will work, convince the stakeholders and introduce financial autonomy in baby steps.”
Following the visit, Iryna Myrna, Deputy Mayor of the Pidhaitsy City Council, Ternopil Oblast, spoke about the plans for the introduction of financial autonomy. She admitted to having doubts about the implementation of such autonomy at the beginning of the visit but changing her mind later:
“It was a great selection of municipalities; we saw the experiences of both smaller rural and larger urban municipalities. Our municipality — which is a former district — has 16 educational institutions, so we employ a centralised accounting system. We are currently analysing the number of students and plan to gradually introduce financial autonomy. Many thanks to the organisers! Wise advice, constructive dialogue and hospitable municipalities! The U-LEAD with Europe team have been at the top of their game, as always.”
The main goal of this experience exchange visit was to present practical options for ensuring the financial autonomy of educational institutions that actually work. Iryna Kondratiuk, Adviser on Municipal Finance and Management at the Regional Office in the Rivne Oblast, spoke on this:
“While the participants of the event were quite sceptical about the proposed models for ensuring financial autonomy on the first day, after the three-day visit, most of them understood, accepted and are ready to implement one of the options. The host municipalities did a 100% job of conveying the information; the speakers were motivated, and it was a pleasure listening to them.”
