Participation in the programme “Ukraine’s Integration into the EU: Regional Policies and Tools for Their Implementation”

European integration requires more than decisions at the national level — it begins with governance changes in the regions.

A five-day educational visit for the first group of representatives of Ukrainian regional institutions has concluded in Katowice, dedicated to the topic “Ukraine's Integration into the EU: Regional Policies and Tools for Their Implementation”. Participants included Zhanna Ovcharova, Deputy Director of the Kyiv Regional Development Agency.

The programme combined strategic lectures, casework, discussions of examples of cohesion policy management, and direct meetings with Polish experts — the architects of reforms who developed Poland's regional model in the context of EU accession.

For the Agency's team, this was a valuable experience in several respects:

• understanding European regional instruments — from negotiation to implementation;

• familiarisation with the model of governance at the voivodeship level;

• analysis of the challenges faced by Polish regions during the transition period, and the opportunity to compare them with the context of post-war recovery and transformation of Ukrainian regions.

«Today, a new level of regional governance is taking shape in Ukraine. Such training helps not only to learn from others' experience, but also to shape our own models that will match European approaches and Ukrainian realities», notes Zhanna Ovcharova.

We sincerely thank the organisers for the well-designed programme and for creating a space for inter-regional dialogue and practical training!