12 hromadas will become partners of the Swedish-Ukrainian Polaris Programme "Supporting Multilevel Governance in Ukraine" in the "Locally-led Recovery" sphere. The programme received 121 unique applications from 12 oblasts, for which the application was open on the website.
Urban, settlement, and rural hromadas from the most affected oblasts of Ukraine by the full-scale invasion participated. A quarter of them (29 out of 121) experienced occupation.
The highest number of applications came from hromadas of Poltava (18), Dnipropetrovsk (16), Sumy (13), Zhytomyr (11), Odesa (11), Zaporizhzhia (10), Kharkiv (10), and Chernihiv (10) oblasts. Applications also came from hromadas of Kyiv (8), Mykolaiv (7), Kherson (6), and Donetsk (2) oblasts.
Over 90 hromadas indicated that they have an active Development Strategy until 2027, and more than 60 have started developing a Comprehensive Spatial Development Plan. At the same time, only 5 hromadas reported having an Integrated Development Concept.
The application period lasted from December 18, 2024, to January 27, 2025. Polaris experts also held two informational sessions, which were attended by more than 200 hromada representatives.
The selection of partner hromadas will take one month and will be carried out in two stages: review of completed applications and follow-up interviews. The results will be announced by March 17.
The "Locally-led Recovery" direction is being implemented in partnership and consultation with the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine.
