Hromada
Sets the task, adopts legal acts on its own water bodies, and is accountable for the result on its territory. A hromada is Ukraine's amalgamated territorial community, the basic unit of local self-government.
In brief
The hromada sets the task and adopts the legal acts, the research institution provides the measurement methodology, and the foundation covers what neither of them can. Data comes before decisions: the hromada plans the use of its own natural assets on the basis of measurements.
9
measurable indicators in the hromada's strategy
operational objective 4.1 of the Tsyrkuny Hromada Development Strategy to 2030
22
months of joint work with the anchor hromada
from the first delivery of aid in 09.2024 to 07.08.2026
Model
Three parties, and none does another's work
The classic scheme runs like this: the hromada describes a need, the foundation covers it, both sides move on. That scheme works, and it is where we started. It does not reach decisions: while the foundation delivers generators, the hromada is taking decisions on boreholes, wastewater and dams without environmental data, because the data does not exist.
Research institution
Provides the methodology: what to measure, how to assess it, and how to convert measurements into the target indicators of a formal document.
Foundation
Covers what neither of them can: funding for specific needs, field work, and access to international programmes.
What this produces
In Tsyrkuny the result was operational objective 4.1 of the Hromada Development Strategy to 2030, with nine measurable indicators: hectares of forest to be restored, kilometres of riverbed to be cleared, community monitoring points to be established. These are lines in a document adopted by formal order, not statements of intent.
Selection
How we select hromadas
The network is not assembled on a first-come basis. A hromada has to meet every condition at once, otherwise the model will not start there.
A water body under pressure
A river, reservoir or wetland already absorbing the consequences of reconstruction, agricultural load, extraction or land release.
The emergency stage is over
While a hromada has no electricity and no water, a conversation about ecosystem monitoring is not possible. The model works at the next step, when the hromada moves from survival to planning.
A functioning body of local self-government
Someone has to adopt legal acts on the hromada's water bodies. Without that, the data has nowhere to land.
People on the ground
An initiative group, a youth council, local activists: those who will carry on the monitoring once the training ends.
Readiness to commit in writing
First a letter of intent, then an agreement. We do not count a hromada as a network member on the basis of verbal consent.
The geography of the network, Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts, covers two different types of pressure on water: a front-line territory with the consequences of hostilities and land release, and a capital agglomeration under heavy anthropogenic load.
Current status
Where the area stands now
As of 07.08.2026 one hromada has confirmed membership of the network, Tsyrkuny. Its participation rests not on a letter of intent but on 22 months of joint work, an order establishing a working group, and an adopted Strategy. The remaining hromadas are in negotiation, and we do not name them until letters of intent are signed: calling a hromada a member before it has confirmed this in writing would misrepresent the hromada itself.
Ready by the time of signing: a proven model, a research partner, and access to international programmes through the ECOPLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & GREEN TRANSITION project movement of the Ukrainian Refugees UAPT Social Association.
What this work does not yet have
- Signed agreements with member hromadas beyond the anchor one. The network exists as a model and as negotiations, not as a functioning association.
- Laboratory capacity of our own. Spot measurements are carried out by specialist organisations under contract, and we do not present their results as ours.
- External funding to roll the network out. For now the area runs on the foundation's own resources and the voluntary participation of specialists.
Materials
This work in detail
A network of hromadas: replicating the Tsyrkuny model
What exactly we transfer to other hromadas, why a network rather than six separate projects, how we select members, and where the work stands now.
Tsyrkuny 2030: the foundation's contribution
What the hromada lost, what it plans to do by 2030, the foundation's role in that, and what the foundation did not do.
Часті питання
How many hromadas are already in the network?
One hromada has confirmed membership, Tsyrkuny. Its participation rests on 22 months of joint work, an order establishing a working group, and an adopted Hromada Development Strategy to 2030. The remaining hromadas are in negotiation, and we do not name them until letters of intent are signed.
What exactly does the foundation transfer to other hromadas?
Not a project and not equipment, but a way of working: a division of roles between the hromada, science and the foundation under which data comes before decisions. The methodology is already written, so the next hromadas travel this path faster than the anchor one did.
Who is the research partner for this area?
The Institute of Public Administration at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Spot laboratory work is carried out by specialist organisations under contract: the foundation has no laboratory capacity of its own and does not present others' results as its own.
How can a hromada join the network?
Write to [email protected] or call +38 (063) 185-31-71. A hromada has to meet five conditions at once; they are listed in the Selection block on this page.
