From strategy to results
The municipality of Nekhvoroshcha began cooperating with U-LEAD back in 2017 — right after its voluntary amalgamation. At that time U-LEAD experts provided support for the first steps of the newly created municipality: they helped organise awareness-raising campaign for the residents and conduct public hearings. Later in 2021, the municipality elaborated a development strategy together with the working group. The municipality lacked specialists who could prepare such a planning document. Therefore, training and support from U-LEAD became significant help.
Viktor Dubovych, the Head of Nekhvoroshcha Village Council, says: "Cooperation with U-LEAD has been vital for us both in the context of project support and as an opportunity to strengthen our management capacity. Personally I took the course “First Steps for the Head of a Municipality”, which equipped me with practical knowledge and helped me navigate management processes, decision-making, finances and strategic planning. Our municipality thus received a high-quality development strategy and was able to expand the range of services for the citizens. Together with the team, we received not just consultations from U-LEAD experts, but also real tools for the development of our municipality."
Among Nekhvoroshcha’s strategic priorities, the development of education is particularly important. With the support of U-LEAD, the municipality held a detailed assessment of the existing educational network to identify its weaknesses and development prospects. Experts helped to build a new capable network, supporting the municipal officials in writing their project application. This enabled the municipality to upgrade and complete the construction of a modern kindergarten in 2024. Its capacity has been doubled — up to 70 children.
The municipality’s successes inspire other regions
Nekhvoroshcha municipality is a regular participant in U-LEAD initiatives aimed at studying the best practices of other municipalities, including study visits and meetings with mayors. "This is very useful for a change of perspective. You see the same problems and completely different approaches to solving them — so you learn. We have adopted and implemented a lot of practices here," says Olha Khomenko, the Deputy Head Nekhvoroshcha Village Council.
For example, after a visit to Zakarpattia Oblast, the municipality resumed the work of its school camps in a new format – with a temporary budget, shared locations, and children’s exchanges between localities.
Study visit to Nekhvoroshcha municipality
At the same time, Nekhvoroshcha municipality generously shares its own experience and hosts colleagues from Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts as part of study visits, including presenting the municipality’s best practices in healthcare management. In 2020–2022, the municipality reconstructed the old therapeutic department and opened a modern Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC). Additional fundraising became possible due to the knowledge and skills acquired with the support of U-LEAD: the Programme taught municipal specialists to effectively manage a full project cycle.
Today, over 5,000 residents of four municipalities in Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts use the services of the facility. The PHC provides a wide range of medical services, including prevention, diagnostics, treatment and management of chronic diseases.
Maryna Romanenko, the Acting Director of the Primary Healthcare Centre, says: "U-LEAD offered us a unique opportunity to share our experience with colleagues from other regions of Ukraine, exchange best practices and see cases of other centres. These meetings helped us build personal contacts, and now we have a professional communication network to advise and support each other, as well as jointly seek the best solutions to develop healthcare services. This professional network is one of the key intangible benefits of cooperation with U-LEAD, which has truly brought us together to create a professional community."
Support in the most difficult of times
At the outset of the full-scale invasion, Nekhvoroshcha municipality faced a huge influx of internally displaced persons and lacked the capacity to accommodate and support them. U-LEAD was the first to provide emergency assistance to the municipality.
"We got generators, water storage tanks, large tents with folding beds to receive IDPs, as well as basic necessities. It felt like a sip of water in the desert. We saw that we were not alone, and this gave us strength. We got through the first power outages without major problems, as we already had generators available," says Olha Khomenko.
However, the assistance was not limited to material resources. Thanks to U-LEAD’s training programme “Steps for Specialists. Organising Work with IDPs – 2023”, the municipality developed a comprehensive programme for the integration of internally displaced persons in the municipality. With their newly acquired project management skills, the local self-government specialists wrote a project, submitted it to the Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression and received funding for the reconstruction of an old building.
The project succeeded in the opening of a four-apartment building for IDPs — currently home to 14 people. The municipality also registered ownerless property and brought abandoned estates under municipal property in order to expand the housing stock for IDPs. The implemented initiative has become an example for similar projects in other municipalities.
Today, Nekhvoroshcha municipality is developing steadily, overcoming challenges thanks to professional expertise, experience exchange and material assistance received as part of the cooperation with U-LEAD.
"Last but not least, we know that we can consult with U-LEAD experts at any time on any issue related to municipality development and receive professional support. This makes us optimistic about the present and future of the municipality," says Viktor Dubovych, the Head of Nekhvoroshcha Village Council.
