The Third Stage of Local Government Reform in Ukraine: Organizational And Legal Support and Implementation

Purpose: This article is dedicated to the study of the evolution and current state of implementation of local government reform in Ukraine and to identification of current trends in its development. Today the formation of united territorial communities as an effective and capable institution of local self-government requires not only legislative regulation and budget support of their development and functioning. The change in the administrative-territorial system has led to a new format and content of decentralization processes. On 5^th October 2020 the first elections of local mayors and deputies of local councils took place. Newly formed communities (UTCs), having received new powers, have no work experience and require institutional assistance. Methodological elaboration of the activities of united communities requires comprehensive support of local development from the state, continuation of the network of administrative service centers, elaboration of community development strategies, training and education of newly elected chairmen and deputies of local councils. The adopted norms on decentralization of powers are aimed at their clear delineation in the field of socio-economic development, health care, education, infrastructure, and leisure. Methodology: The study examines reform in a temporal and methodological dimension. Therefore, the following methods and techniques were used during its conduct: historical method, monitoring of the decentralization process, review and analysis of expert opinion, comprehensive and systematic approach, method of classification, analysis and evaluation of financial indicators. Conclusions: a chronological review of the development of the local self-government system indicates the beginning of the third stage of the reform, when the legislative framework of reforms was created, administrative and territorial changes were made, and local communities elected new mayors and deputies. Therefore, it is time to start painstaking work on solving strategic and tactical tasks of local authorities, developing processes and establishing indicators of their achievement, developing and evaluating the first results of community activities (cases). At the same time, the state and the regions should take care of the systematic training of new and advanced training of already involved personnel. The obtained cases and data should become the basis for comprehensive implementation of successful practices by newly formed communities. Implications: Comprehensive elaboration of the systemic reform of local self-government allowed to implement the first two stages of the decentralization process in public administration quite effectively, ensuring the formation of a basic package of legislative acts, creating a new administrative-territorial structure, budget decentralization and granting legal status to the territorial community. At the same time, the created trends and new challenges require the state and newly formed communities to take effective action to create economically developed, investment-attractive areas that can not only reproduce the current needs of their residents, but also ensure sustainable development. The third stage should solve these problems in practice, from the final construction of the network of ASCs to capital investment in community development.