Housing and Municipal Reform Support Center

GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS OF PROGRAMS IMPLEMENTATION
AND REGIONAL OFFICES OPERATION

The Center's operations cover the whole territory of Ukraine. From five to eight oblast's of Ukraine are assigned to each of the four regional offices with office specialists realizing aid programs in reforming housing and municipal economy. In particular:

- the Kyiv office operates in the Vinnitsa, Zhytomir, Kyiv, Cherkassy and Chernigiv oblast's, as well as the city of Kyiv;
- the Kharkiv office operates in the Donetsk, Lugansk, Poltava, Sumy and Kharkiv oblast's;
- the Lviv office operates in the Volyn, Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnitsky and Chernivtsi oblast's;
- the Odessa office operates in the Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporizhya, Kirovograd, Mykolaiv, Odessa and Kherson oblast's, as well as the Autonomous republic of the Crimea.

Each regional office has computers, copiers, fax machines, e-mail and other equipment necessary for efficient implementation of the Center's programs.

A number of specialists have been specially trained in the USA and have a good command of English. Most Center specialists have 2-3- year hands-on experience in Condo and PMM programs implementation.

Working together on implementing these programs, each regional office, however, has certain specific features in its work. They are mainly as follows:

The Kyiv office:

- collaborates with government bodies (the relevant Supreme Rada Commission, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the State Committee for Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy, other concerned ministries and agencies in Ukraine);
- attracts experts from national government bodies for conducting training seminars and sessions;
- takes part in holding seminars and attracts experts from various governmental and non-governmental structures for participating in seminars. The structures with which the Center has already signed agreements on collaboration are the State Committee for Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy of Ukraine, the Local Self-government Fund attached to the President of Ukraine, the Kyiv municipal territorial branch of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine, and it is going to sign such agreements with the Association of Cities of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Association of Housing Owners, the Institute of Statehood and Democracy, the Association "Municipal Management Center", etc.;
- develops and puts into practice plans for cooperation with higher educational establishments training personnel for housing and municipal economy;
- takes an active part in negotiations concerning the possibilities for the Center to receive new grants in order to further housing and municipal reforms in Ukraine;
- takes part in Task Forces' activities set up at the State Committee for Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy of Ukraine to draft various laws and regulations in housing and municipal sector;
- makes considerable efforts to have information newsletter of the National Housing Reforms Program "Housing Reform News" prepared and published.

The Kharkiv office:

- works in the most developed industrial region of Ukraine with dense urban population which resides, as a rule, in buildings with modern facilities;
- is experienced in working with enterprise housing taking into consideration that over 50% of the housing stock belongs to enterprises, other institutions and departments;
- is a leader among other regional departments of the Center as to successful implementation of the private management and maintenance program;
- designs lectures for new training courses within the programs' implementation framework.

The Lviv office:

- has developed materials on dividing blocks and sub-blocks into land plots and on attaching adjacent territories to condominiums;
- has worked a lot on restructuring water supply and sewage facilities;
- has amassed experience in environmental protection;
- takes part in Task Forces' activities in drafting various laws and regulations in housing and municipal sector;
- designs lectures for new training courses within the programs' implementation framework.

The Odessa office:

- for program implementation enlists wide ranges of retired military men who have higher technical education, computer skills, had special training and fluent in English;
- pays serious attention to raising the level of professional skills and actually all leading specialists now get the second higher education in economy or jurisprudence;
- co-operates with donor, public organizations including Soros' Foundation, Public Organizations' Resource Center, Know How Fund and others;
- co-operates actively with Odessa City Executive Committee, particularly, in implementing the World Bank grants, concludes contracts with city authorities for specific tasks.

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