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Obukhivka Territorial Community
Dnipropetrovsk
Population:
The Obukhiv Territorial Community is located in the territory of the Dnipro District, the Dnipropetrovsk Region.
The total surface area of the territory of the community is 142.48 km².
Population of the community: 19,172 residents
Women: 9,413
Men: 7,021
Internally displaced persons: 2,365
Children: 2,600
The community consists of two settlements and one village, with the administrative centre in the urban-type settlement of Obukhivka.
History
Several settlements of the Bronze Age and other ancient cultures (the late 3rd millennium – the early 1st millennium BC) were investigated in the territory of Obukhivka.
The settlement was founded in the second half of the 18th century. The first name of the settlement was Obukhivka, which, according to unofficial information, comes from the surname of the first settler, Cossack Andrii Obukh.
After the formation of the Katerynoslav Province, Obukhivka became part of the Kamianka Area of the Novomoskovsk District. In 1886, 1,930 people lived there with 351 farm yards; there was a church and three shops.
In the first years of the Soviet rule, collectivization took place in Obukhivka just as throughout the country. As of 1925, 5,246 residents lived in the village, two fairs were held, and there were two schools, a reading room.
In 1938, by the decision of the general meeting of Obukhivka residents, it was decided to rename the village to Kirovske in honour of the Soviet statesman Serhii Kirov.
After the Second World War, Kirovske became an urban-type settlement. The central facility of the Dnipropetrovsk poultry farm was located there. In the second half of the 20th century, more than 1,200 new residential buildings, a Palace of Culture, two libraries, and a medical outpatient clinic were built in Kirovske.
The present-day community was created in 2019 as a result of decentralization.
There are ancient burial sites in the territory of present-day Obukhivka, but only six of them have been explored by archaeologists. Some barrows still hide their secrets; the earth is in no hurry to reveal its secrets. One of them is the Barabanova Tomb barrow dating back to the 2nd millennium BC and located four kilometres from the centre of the village; in the forest; there is a sign “Cossack Baraban Tomb”.
An important part of the history was the approval of the Community Coat of Arms in 2021.
Economy and Wellbeing
There are no large industrial enterprises in the territory of the community. There are three agribusinesses producing eggs, oil and products of animal origin.
Instead, recreation services are developed in the territory of the community. There are forty-five recreation centres and forty-two horticultural associations in the area. Recreational activities are attractive because the community is located in a forest area and on the bank of the Dnipro River. The Oril River flows through the community, too.
Separately, it is necessary to highlight the Dnipro-Oril Nature Reserve in the territory of the community, which is the only nature reserve in the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Its surface area reaches about 4,000 hectares; it is located in the Dnipro valley. The reserve was created in 1990 to preserve the unique landscape of the valley of the middle Dnipro and the Oril River with a complex of characteristic flora and fauna. It is a national nature protection research institution.
Twelve species of plants listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and fifty species rare for the Dnipropetrovsk Region grow there. The fauna includes forty-four species of mammals, 50 species of fish. The bird fauna of the reserve included 196 species of birds for the research period of 1991-2021.
A regional landscape park of local importance – Dnipro Forests – is also situated in the territory of the community.
The Obukhivka forest is located 30 km away from the centre of Dnipro, which is connected to the nature protection zone, which flows into the famous Dnipro-Oril Reserve. Together, they form extraordinary beautiful living nature.
The Obukhivka forest is famous for its comfortable recreation areas. During the holiday season, the forest glades are full of holiday makers every weekend. From different sides of the forest there are cottage cooperatives, recreation centres, children’s health camps, hospitals, and cottage-type hotels and spa complexes have been built in recent years. All of them are located near the banks and have access to the beach of the Oril River.
Community and War
Full-scale military aggression by the russian federation became a serious challenge for local self-government reforms. Decentralization processes slowed down and provoked a crisis situation in many communities. It is more difficult for those who are on the frontline, and it is easier for the communities behind the frontline. However, the war has affected absolutely everyone in one way or another.
The Obukhivka Territorial Community is located far from the frontline; no hostilities are conducted in the territory of the community. But there are regular air raids and missile attacks are sometimes fatal for civilians.
The first days of the war made significant changes to the everyday life of the community. The executive bodies of the council actively got involved in the work, responding to the challenges we got faced with and switched to a 24-hour mode of operation. The first and large-scale problem for the community was to ensure and create appropriate conditions for internally displaced persons. So, to solve this problem, four shelters for 24-hour accommodation of displaced persons have been created at the municipal educational institutions. As of today, 2,500 internally displaced persons have been registered in the territory of the community. To overcome these problems, the settlement council actively cooperates with local and international charitable organizations and missions.
At the social services centre, a hub for distributing humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons was organized.
People of the Community
The community is run by its head Vasyl Hez.
Laptops were received for the community educators at the educational institutions of the Obukhivka community with the assistance of the Foundation of First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska within the framework of the GBC-Education initiative and the HP and Microsoft project.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the head of the community signed a cooperation and partnership agreement between the Slavic Heart Charity Fund and the Obukhivka Settlement Council aimed at supporting the residents who suffered as a consequence of russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.
Since the beginning of hostilities, asked by the mayor, the private kindergarten suspended its usual activities and opened its doors to children and women who were forced to leave their homes and flee from the horrors of war.
Development Strategy
The community development strategy has not yet been created. However, the community has already implemented and planned some projects.
For instance, a kindergarten construction project has been implemented. The kindergarten of the community was posted on one of the most prestigious websites about architecture and design. It is on ArchDaily that the best implemented projects from around the world are presented. There one can see the gardens of the future, for example, from Japan, Sweden, Mexico and other countries.
It should be noted that this is the first case in the history of Ukraine when a social infrastructure facility – an ordinary kindergarten – built by the state was posted on this website.
Another important project in today’s situation, which the community wants to implement in 2023, is the reconstruction of a municipal non-residential building into a shelter for persons who have suffered from domestic violence and/or gender-based violence, which, according to its capacity, would be able to, in cooperation with other communities of the Dnipro District, provide for our needs and their needs in this field. For the implementation of this project, a memorandum was signed between the Obukhivka Settlement Council of the Dnipro District of the Dnipropetrovsk Region and DAI Global LLC, which is the contractor of the international technical assistance project “Economic Support of Eastern Ukraine”.