(USAID | by Sean R. Roberts and Oleksandr Fisun) This report is the result of an extensive assessment of the process of proposed decentralization reforms in Ukraine as it relates to the future programming of USAID/Ukraine. Fieldwork for the assessment took place during most of the month of July 2014 and included over 50 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in seven cities in addition to seven citizen focus groups conducted in four different cities. The three primary questions that the assessment sought to address are: 1) what is the current operating environment for local governance reforms?; 2) what is the capacity and capacity-building needs of local governments and civil society to implement such reforms and effectively exercise improved governance on the local level?; and 3) what are the existing and planned donor efforts in local governance and decentralization?
