Even 20 years after independence, Ukraine remains a centrally organised State. In the framework of reforms planned by the national government, Switzerland is supporting local authorities with technical know-how and financial contribu-tions to enable them to provide local populations with mu-nicipal services more effectively.

Ukraine signed the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1997, undertaking to hand responsibility over to local authori-ties and involve the citizens more closely in democratic decision-making processes. It is only in recent years, however, that the government has manifested a certain desire for reform of the public sector.

Following an official request from the President of Ukraine, and in the light of positive experiences with UNDP projects, the SDC in 2006 launched its own project entitled “Support to Decentralization in Ukraine” (DesPro). It supports concrete initiatives by local authorities for the decentralisation of water supplies and waste disposal. It also involves the development of sustainable processes for the decentralisation of municipal services and their inclusion in reform processes at the national level. 

DesPro, in close collaboration with the populations concerned as well as local and national authorities, supported some 30 smaller projects in two regions of Ukraine between 2006 and 2009, pro-viding access to clean drinking water to about 350,000 citizens. Furthermore, Switzerland provides support for:

• political dialogue at the national level and associations of local authorities
• exchanges of knowledge within and between the various levels of the State, since 2010
• in close cooperation with the National Academy of Public Administration, curricula designed to enable public law employees to improve their knowledge of planning, budgets and the provision of local services.

The project in brief