MONITORING OF INTERNATIONAL DONOR ASSISTANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMALGAMATED TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

The research is conducted within the framework of the joint project of the F. Ebert Foundation (Germany) and the Institute of Economic and Legal Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Ukraine) “The Experience of the Association of Territorial Communities in Eastern Ukraine: Economic and Legal Aspects”. The subject of the study is the theoretical, methodological, and practical aspects of monitoring international donor assistance in the context of the development of amalgamated territorial communities (ATC) based on the example of Bilokurakyne and Novopskov ATC. Methodology. The system approach (in substantiating the directions of monitoring and established procedures for monitoring each component of the life of amalgamated territorial communities), logical generalization (in determining the state of development of amalgamated territorial communities), method of absolute, relative, and mean values, analysis of the dynamics series and structural shifts (in determining the dominant trends in the formation and development of ATC), method of economic analysis and synthesis (in determining the content of the monitoring), method of comparison (when the violations in the process of ATC), graphical method (the construction algorithm combined operation and development of local communities) imaging method (for presenting the results of the total amount of international aid to ATC) are used in the work. The purpose of the research is to develop theoretical, methodological, and practical approaches to the monitoring of international donor assistance in the context of the development of amalgamated territorial communities. The article suggests using monitoring as the most effective tool for controlling economic and social phenomena and processes. The authorial scheme for constructing a procedure for the monitoring of functioning and development of amalgamated territorial communities is developed. The monitoring of international donor support of the Bilokurakyne and Novopskov settlement amalgamated territorial communities (SATC) is conducted. As a result, it is concluded that the total amount of international donor assistance for Novopskov SATC amounted to 22.5 million UAH for 2015–2016, for 2015 – 13 million UAH, and for 2016 – 9.5 million UAH with a population of 12,316 thousand people in the community. The population in Bilokurakyne SATC was 13,226 thousand (for the present – 13,700 people), which is 910 more than in Novopskov. In 2016, the donor assistance for Bilokurakyne community amounted to 14.25 million UAH, which is 4.75 million UAH more than in the same period in the neighbouring community. The above dynamics indicates, on the one hand, the absolute logic nature in the distribution of financial assistance between the communities in terms of the conceptual nature of the decentralization reform in Ukraine; on the other hand, such tendencies require the establishment of the main reasons for the non-equality of the donor assistance. Moreover, it is found that the majority of donor funds had been distributed between Novopskov and Bilokurakyne SATC in order to develop infrastructure, that is, road repair, sidewalks, social facilities (clubs, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, etc.), lighting. The most active assistance was received from such donors as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – in Bilokurakyne SATC, and EU/UNDP in Novopskov SATC.