The second selection of territorial hromadas for cooperation with the Swedish-Ukrainian Polaris Programme in the area of “Education at Local and Regional Levels” has been completed. Twelve new hromadas joined the partnership alongside 10 existing partner hromadas. As a result, the Program now supports 22 territorial hromadas across 16 oblasts of Ukraine in the education direction.
In total, 61 hromadas (including 28 urban, 19 settlement, and 14 rural) from 21 oblasts of Ukraine submitted applications for partnership with the Program. The largest number of applications came from hromadas in Dnipropetrovsk oblast – 8 applications.
Following a two-stage selection process, Polaris Program experts selected 12 partner hromadas, including 9 urban and 3 settlement hromadas:Berezhanska urban hromada (Ternopil oblast)
- Berezhany (Ternopil oblast)
- Valky (Kharkiv oblast)
- Hoshcha (Rivne oblast)
- Drohobych (Lviv oblast)
- Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk oblast)
- Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk oblast)
- Novo-Orzhytsia (Poltava oblast)
- Rava-Ruska (Lviv oblast)
- Sarny (Rivne oblast)
- Teofipol (Khmelnytskyi oblast)
- Shpola (Cherkasy oblast)
- Khotyn (Chernivtsi oblast)
Application period: June 18 – July 11, 2025.
From September 2025 to May 2026, the hromadas will receive expert support and assistance from the Program in the following areas:
- Analysis and optimization of the educational network;
- Development or updating of local education development programs;
- Implementation of innovative approaches in education management;
- Strengthening communication with education stakeholders;
- Participation in training and capacity-building activities for hromada management teams.
How were the hromadas selected?
Applications could be submitted by the hromada head, their deputies, or the head of the local education management body.
The selection process included two stages:
- Analysis and ranking of applications and preliminary selection – based on key criteria such as alignment of the hromada’s goals with the Program’s objectives and readiness to implement real changes.
- Interviews with heads of education management bodies – to assess the hromada’s motivation for cooperation within the institutional support offered by the Program, the current state of education services and school network, the readiness of education stakeholders for network optimization and education reform (including the senior profile school), participation in training activities, and the political will of hromada leadership to implement changes outlined in the Memorandum of Cooperation.
The Polaris Programme remains open to supporting hromadas that were not selected through this competition. Local self-government representatives can submit an application via the Polaris website to receive consultations on improving education management at the local and regional levels.
