Halych Territorial Community

Ivano-Frankivsk
Population:

The Halych Territorial Community is located in the territory of the Ivano-Frankivsk District in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region.

The total surface area of the territory is 246.5 km²

Population: 21,150
Internally displaced persons: 3,612      

The Halych Territorial Community consists of twenty-six settlements, including twenty-five villages. The administrative centre of the community is the town of Halych.

History

Halych is the former centre of the Halych-Volyn Principality. The first mention dates back to 898. The name of this town gave the name of the Halychyna region.

The ruins of the castle are preserved in the territory of the community being located on the high hill of Mount Halych. The castle on the right bank of the Dnister River above the town used to serve as a defensive fortification facility.

Halych Castle or Starosta Castle
Halych Castle or Starosta Castle

Also the community has a valuable architectural landmark of the Late Middle Ages and one of the oldest churches in Halychyna. Most likely that the brick Church of the Nativity of Christ was built in the 10th century.

Church of the Nativity of Christ
Church of the Nativity of Christ Source

In the Ancient Halych National Reserve, there are sights of national and world importance, the foundations of 14 chronicled churches dating back to the 12th – 13th centuries, more than 200 archaeological landmarks, 18 nature conservation sites organically connected with the historical and architectural landmarks. The area of the reserve is almost 80 km. sq.

Ancient Halych National Reserve
Ancient Halych National Reserve Source

Economy and Wellbeing

The structure of the economy of the Halych Territorial Community consists of:

– woodworking industry;
– production of alternative energy sources;
– trade;
– agriculture;
– food Industry.

In the industrial sector, woodworking enterprises account for about 35% of businesses.

More than 550 small and medium-sized businesses operate in the territory of the community.

Goods were mainly exported to Turkey and Poland. Enterprises of the community mainly exported wood products.

Among the agricultural enterprises of the community, farms specializing in the cultivation of grain, leguminous and technical crops prevail. The main crops include wheat, barley, soy, sunflower, and rapeseed.

The community has potential for breeding goats and sheep, sales of goat and sheep products, given the proximity to the regional centre, where a large number of catering establishments, poultry farms and the cultivation of environmentally friendly crops are concentrated.

In recent years, investments have been made in the construction of solar power plants.

SOLAR ZALUKVA (owned by the Lithuanian company Modus Energy International B.V.) has been a participant in the Ukrainian renewable energy market since 2019 as an independent producer of electricity from renewable energy sources. The company manages a solar power plant (a ground one) with a capacity of 13.24 MW, which is the most powerful solar power plant in the Sub-Carpathian area.

Solar power plant
Solar power plant Source

The Town Council provides advisory assistance regarding the implementation of state programs aimed at promoting the development of certain economic sectors.

Community and War

Due to the russian-Ukrainian war and its devastating consequences, many internally displaced persons who were forced to leave their homes found shelter and support in the Halych Urban Territorial Community.

As of 01 January 2023, 3,612 internally displaced persons from various cities, especially Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Mariupol, were registered in the community, of which 1,208 were children (aged 0 – 18). Among the refugees, 93 children participate in distance learning in the community. The Halych Territorial Community provides accommodation and food for the refugees in the municipal educational institutions and cultural centres.

Clothing and food distribution hubs, a psychological support centre, Ukrainian language courses, first aid courses, various circles and workshops, etc. have been organized by the Halych Town Council.

First aid courses
First aid courses
Psychological support courses
Psychological support courses
Clothing distribution hub
Clothing distribution hub
Foods and hygienic products distribution hub
Foods and hygienic products distribution hub

About 50 people who needed specialized care and outside help were admitted to the community medical and palliative institutions from the war zones.

Municipal hospital
Municipal hospital
Town mayor meeting refugees
Town mayor meeting refugees

When the war broke out, the ancient Galician land sought not only to meet the internally displaced person’s basic human needs, but also to attract and integrate them into the cultural, artistic, sports and public life of the community. For almost a year of the war, a number of events were held in the community, in which both children of the community and guests of the region were involved.

 Children and youth psychological support project
Children and youth psychological support project
Children and youth psychological support project
Children and youth psychological support project

People of the Community

Oleh Kantor is the head of the Halych Territorial Community.

  Head of the Community
Head of the Community

Over the entire period of his work, Oleh Kantor has proven to be a goal-oriented manager, as a result of which he has many awards.

The head of the community is an energetic person, extremely fond of active residents and tries to support their initiatives.

Under the leadership of Oleh Kantor, the community became one of the nine Ukrainian partner communities as part of bilateral cooperation between the Ukrainian communities and the Danish municipality of Gulborgsunn.

The project is implemented with the support of Denmark’s Program for Ukraine on empowerment at the local level, accountability and development “U-LEAD with Europe”. The goal of the project is to establish cooperation in the fields of tourism, education, business, ecology and exchange of experience and organize visits to the communities in both Ukraine and Denmark.

Also, among 70 competitive applications, based on the results of two months of interviews, 16 territorial communities of Ukraine were selected by professional experts, including the Halych Urban Territorial Community, which will cooperate with the DECIDE project on the development of an effective education management system in communities over the next four years.

At the invitation of the mayor, the community was visited by the top players of the Kyiv Dynamo football club, who held a master class for the children of the community and internally displaced persons.

Kyiv Dynamo football club players and the community head
Kyiv Dynamo football club players and the community head
Master for the children
Master class for the children

The Halych community residents initiated the signing of an agreement on inter-municipal cooperation in the field of inclusive education. This partnership will help improve the quality of service provision and contribute to the development of the institution.

To date, the services of the Centre are used by the residents of four communities. Specialists of the institution provide correctional-developmental, psychological-pedagogical and methodical services in the field of inclusive education to children with special educational needs. They also provide conclusions without which children of this category would not be able to attend kindergartens and schools.

Signing of an agreement on inter-municipal cooperation in the field of inclusive education
Signing of an agreement on inter-municipal cooperation in the field of inclusive education

Development Strategy

Thanks to the Swiss-Ukrainian DECIDE project, in which the community is a participating partner, expert support was provided in the preparation and development of the Community Development Strategy. A strategic planning working group has been set up so far.

It was emphasized that the development and discussion of the Strategy is impossible without the participation of the public. A constant dialogue with residents will make it possible to take into account their comments and wishes in order to determine the priority areas of the community development; a public opinion survey of the community residents was conducted, and a SWOT analysis is coming to an end.

Meeting of the working group on the development strategy development
Meeting of the working group on the development strategy development
If you want to contact an Ukrainian community or have additional questions regarding the project please contact us: [email protected]