The impact of decentralization on the financial capacity of rural territorial communities

Abstract

The article is devoted to the theoretical and methodological justification of the impact of decentralization reform on the financial capacity of rural communities using the example of Zakarpattia Oblast in the context of martial law and profound socio-economic transformations. The content of decentralization as a key element of multi-level public administration is revealed, and its role in redistributing powers, resources, and responsibilities between the central government and local self-government, as well as in the formation of capable territorial communities, is clarified. Based on the Constitution of Ukraine, the fundamental laws on local self-government, and strategic documents of state regional policy, the institutional foundations of financial decentralization and the formation of local budgets’ revenue base are analyzed. A methodological approach to assessing the financial capacity of communities is proposed, based on the use of an integral index and a system of eleven indicators (revenues, expenditures, budget structure, share of transfers, capital investments, etc.), considering data from the ULEAD with Europe program and the specifics of the war period. Based on empirical data from 2023–2024, differences in financial capacity across rural, settlement, and urban communities were revealed. Trends in the share of communities with high, optimal, satisfactory, low, and critical levels of capacity were outlined, including a decrease in the share of critically weak communities and a gradual strengthening of individual rural communities. Specific attention is paid to the analysis of the financial situation in the communities of Zakarpattia Oblast, where both deterioration in indicators for individual territories and positive examples of capacity growth through intermunicipal cooperation, participation in international projects, and the intensification of local economic development have been recorded. The expediency of using an integrated financial capacity index as a tool for monitoring and justifying targeted state and regional policy measures to support rural communities is demonstrated. Keywords: decentralization, capacity, socio-economic development, finance, rural areas, territorial communities, competitiveness.