1. RURAL WATER SUPPLY IN UKRAINE: STATUS AND PROSPECTS IN THE CONTEXT OF DECENTRALIZATION
Viacheslav SOROKOVSKYI, Decentralization/Public Services expert, DESPRO
DESPRO - Swiss-Ukrainian Decentralisation Support project Implemented by Skat Consulting Ltd - Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development
Danube Water Conference, Vienna, May 18, 2017

2. UKRAINE: Rural water service provision is shaped by administrative fragmentation, now under amalgamation
Unitary state
Population - about 42,5 million, excl. ARC (State Statistics, (1/3/2017)
One third of population lives in rural areas
GDI per capita – 2640 US$ (WB, 2017)
4 tiers public administration Local Self Governance set-up:
National level
Regions - 27
Sub-regional rayons
Local:
Cities – 460
Small cities/towns - 885
Village councils ≈
ONGOING REFORM: Amalgamated communities (hromadas) – 419 (10/05/2017)

3. UKRAINE: State policies, implementation and monitoring in water supply urban-biased (urban utilities)
Policy formulation
Principles set in the law
No special focus on rural water supply
Much about rules and regulations (e.g. service performance, tariff setting, licensing )
Less about support functions
Implementation and financing
State Program “Drinking Water” :
– urban water supply only
2012 – incl. rural water supply
2013 onwards - did not receive financing
Monitoring and evaluation
National report since 2010 is not published
annually; issues with data quality and lack of data for services in rural areas

4. UKRAINE: less than 1 in 5 people in villages have access to piped water supply
€ 15 mln
€ 5 mln
€ 2 mln
30%
MDG target
€ X
Sources:
State Statistics Service ( )
National Report on Drinking Water Quality and Drinking Water Supply (2015)
State programme “Drinking water of Ukraine” financing

5. And what is happening at local level?
VIDEO

6. Scaling-up of local government led projects
i) access to information and know-how building ii) availability of seed grants and iii) clearer national and regional policies

7. Typical areas for improvement of water utilities in small towns*:
PUBLICLY OWNED – PUBLICLY MANAGED: How to raise the bar for municipal enterprise performance
Municipal (communal) enterprises : A new trend for rural areas starting with amalgamates municipalities
Typical areas for improvement of water utilities in small towns*:
Introducing strategic planning (instead of available resource- based planning )
Proper asset management
Overcoming HR-related problems (staff qualification, incentives)
Modern practices for accounting and financial management
Source: DESPRO data, based on experience in 5 partner small towns in 4 regions of Ukraine: Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, and Ivano-Frankivsk ( )

8. A KEY QUESTION FOR THE STATE TO ADDRESS URBAN-RURAL SERVICES GAP:
Shall and can DECENTRALISATION bring a new paradigm to complement existing state policies in water supply?

9. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

10. Licensed business activity:
PUBLICLY OWNED – PUBLICLY MANAGED: landscape of practices
2993 utilities - water supply (and sewerage) service providers (2015*):
1605 (54%) – communal
64 (3 %) - state
other 43% – systems managed by public institutions (e.g. schools, hospitals, military base, etc.)
Licensed business activity:
National regulator: >30,000 people served and >30,000 m3/year
Regional authorities – other licensed providers
Tariff approval:
National regulator – for nationally licensed utilities
Local self-government – for others
Sources:
* National report on Drinking Water Quality and Drinking Water Supply for 2015 (Minregion, 2016)