The author reviews the peculiarities of digitalized learning process organisation in the hardware and software environment of learning management systems in the context of vocational education and training. The author notes the complexity of the transition to the Industry 4.0 and mentions the risks connected with the named process in the vocational education and training. In such conditions it is important to develop effective models of public and private partnership, to decentralize administration and financing and, above all, to assure the vocational education and training quality.At the same time the learning process taking place in such an environment becomes digitalized, which, on the one hand, gives it additional advantages (easy access to training data regardless of time and place, individualisation of students’ learning paths, broad multimedia resources, etc.) and, on the other hand, requires solving complex tasks in distance courses designing. The author focuses on the methodology of distance courses designing, so it is very important for vocational education and training institution to ensure the realisation of the following five main components: regulatory, financial, technical, personnel, teaching and methodological support. It is emphasised that distance course designing becomes the most important aspect of implementing the modern digitalized learning process. The structure of creative group in distance courses designing is grounded, which comprises: a specialist in the relevant vocational sphere, specialist in distance learning, technical specialist (system administrator or distance courses programmer) and digital content designer.
The article proves the fact that current reforms take place in the system of education of Ukraine taking into account the latest social challenges and priority tasks of the legislative and executive branches of power, in particular, those which aimed to improve the efficiency of education, to overcome territorial differences in the quality of providing it, to modernize the content of education in accordance with relevant labour market demands, to support the process of implementing academic integrity in both educational and academic institutions. The goal of the study has been met, namely there has been conducted the analysis of the effectiveness of educational reforms in Ukraine by processing the data obtained from interviews with different stakeholders of the educational process, who were the students (future teachers), practicing teachers, and lecturers of higher education institutions. There were applied the further outlined research methods like: first, logical and system analysis was intended to summarize the views of the participants of the focus groups on the requests and expectations of the state, civil society and educators to reforms in the field of education; second, documents examination was supposed to identify the participants’ standpoints on the amendments made to the Law of Ukraine «On Education» (2017) and the Conceptual Principles of Secondary Education Reform «New Ukrainian School» (2016). The article reveals the requests and expectations of the state, civil society and educators from conducting the reforms in the field of education. Based on the opinions of the focus group participants on the strategic aspects of the Law of Ukraine «On Education» and the Conceptual Principles for the Reform of the Secondary School «New Ukrainian School», we performed the ranking of the respondents’ standpoints on the relevance of amendments, and we discovered those concepts needed further clarification (decentralization and effective management that will provide real autonomy to the school, a new school structure that allows mastering the new content and gaining competencies for life, the timeline for implementation of the reform). We revealed the prevailing attitudes of educators, their needs and expectations concerning outputs of educational reforms in Ukraine, namely: respect for their job from the society, trust for the teacher; decent fees, proper and transparent financing of educational institutions; real academic freedom, etc.
Modern European integration of Ukraine provides for the revision of the main guidelines in the state policy for creating conditions for satisfying the needs and interests of children, and realization of their rights. In particular, the main factor in the field of childhood protection is the focus on the upbringing of the child in the family environment, in support of the family; as an alternative, in the absence of parental care, to create a child-friendly environment. This orientation requires changes in the social support of orphans and children deprived of parental care. The purpose of the research. The aim of the study is to highlight and analyze certain aspects of Ukraine’s innovation activities regarding social support for orphans and children deprived of parental care; determine innovative features of social protection of Ukrainian children in terms of parental care absence. Methodology. The use of methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization revealed the main tendencies of innovative activity of the state authorities regarding orphans and children deprived of parental care. Results and practical meaning. It has been found out that the innovative development of the Ukrainian social support system for orphans and children deprived of parental care is due to positive world experience and focused on the protection of the best interests of the child and the satisfaction of their vital needs; reforming social protection system requires active involvement of the state and civil society institutions, aimed at the deinstitutionalization of placement of orphans and children deprived of parental care, and reorientation of the principles of financial support for families with adopted children; special attention is paid to cooperation with business representatives and international donors. The following basic vectors of social support for orphans and children deprived of parental care have been stated: modernization of algorithms for financing establishments of institutional type, approval of co-financing mechanisms from state and local budgets, and approval of state standards for social care for families with specified category of children. Prospects for further research. The study and analysis of regional programs of social support for orphans and children deprived of parental care in terms of decentralization and funding have been identified as promising.
The purpose of the research is to improve the methodological approach to assessing the financial security of the region in the context of decentralization, which, unlike the existing ones, makes it possible to determine the ways of ensuring the financial security of the regions through an integrated assessment of the contribution of individual factors and types of regulation to the final state of the financial security of the territories. Methodology. The methodological approach to the assessment of the financial security of the region under decentralization has been improved based on the application of normalization of the system of indicators and construction of integral indices by the type of impact indicator (exogenous or endogenous) and factors: decentralization, socio-economic status and fiscal policy of the regions. Individual time series have been identified and evaluated for each of these integrated indicators. Results. Based on the research, the methodological approach to the assessment of the financial security of the region under decentralization conditions has been improved, which makes it possible to determine the ways of ensuring the financial security of the regions by assessing the contribution of individual factors and types of regulation to the financial security. These individual contributions are grouped together to reflect the type of impact indicator (exogenous or endogenous) and factors such as decentralization, socio-economic status and fiscal policies of the regions. The categories of integrated indicators proposed in the article are useful for monitoring financial security drivers, making it clear what affects the financial security of a country under decentralization, how systemic events in the process of decentralization affect the financial security of regions over time. Practical meaning. The research identified three groups of regions of Ukraine in terms of their financial security: financially secure regions, which during the entire observation period were ascertained: a high integral financial security index (Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv regions) and a sufficient integral financial security index (Lviv, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, Poltava and Kharkiv regions); financially unstable regions where there is a potential for strengthening financial security (Vinnytsia, Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy regions), but there is also a likelihood of aggravation of a negative financial situation (Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Chernihiv regions); financially dangerous regions, which are dependent on state support, are not able to independently fulfill the majority of delegated to the local level of authority and to finance the economic development of the region (Volyn, Luhansk, Transcarpathian, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi regions). Therefore, the advantage of using this system of integrated indicators is that they give the developers of national regional policy and internal regional policy an up-to-date picture of the financial security situation in the region, wider than that provided only by some unsystematic indicators. Prospects for further research. The prospect for further research should be to improve methodological support for the financial security of Ukrainian regions.
The article identifies the peculiarities of the educational services provision in the region in the conditions of decentralization of power. It has been found out that at the present stage of state development, higher education is the driving force for changing and updating the country's social and economic status. Therefore, investment in higher education is the main factor by which the state influences not only the quality of educational services and the state of universities, but also the development of the economy as a whole. It has been found that the state plays an important role in organizing educational services at the regional level of the country, forming the legal field and financing the educational sector. The regulatory activities of the state can be implemented at the stage of planning, motivating, and organizing and include regulating and streamlining of socio-economic processes in higher education, guiding them in certain directions in accordance with certain goals and priorities, eliminating contradictions, obstacles, and deviations by appropriate measures. It has been found out that the regionalization of education, especially in the context of the decentralization of power, can be considered as a tool to achieve compliance with the educational needs of the region through the revitalization of its internal development resources.In turn, the educational needs of the region should be formed by means of education of those personal qualities that contribute to self-realization and vigorous civic activity.It has been determined that an important problem in the organization of educational services at all levels is accessability of education, which is socially acute with a transition to the level of higher education, which is not mandatory, but critically expedient and necessary prerequisite for ensuring quality life, social stability and prospects.It has been highlighted that in order to improve the performance of universities, there is an urgent need for the formation of a comprehensive system for managing the career process, which includes interrelated goals, functions, principles, structure and staffing.It has been concluded that establishing and ensuring the effective functioning of the mechanisms of regional management by education, especially higher education, will contribute to the formation of the level of educational services of a new type capable of introducing new principles and approaches into the practice of their activities, a new organizational culture, new technologies that will become essential components of intellectual technological infrastructure of the regional economy.
Topicality. It is caused by excessive centralization of powers and financial and material resources by the executive authorities, the inability of the territorial communities of the basic level to fulfill their powers, the deterioration of the quality and availability of public services due to the lack of financial and material provision. Aim and tasks. To investigate the economic aspects of administrative-territorial reform in Ukraine, to identify the main problems of financial provision of territorial communities of the baseline level. Research results. The model of budget relations implemented is aligned not by expenditures, but by income. Such a mechanism has a motivational component regarding the interest in increasing the revenue base of local budgets. At that time, the transition to equalization of local budgets by income led to an increase in the differentiation of communities. Most benefit was given to cities of regional significance whose incomes have increased significantly. Local government revenues consist of own revenues and transfers from the central level. Over the past 20 years, the tendency towards a decrease in the share of local budget revenues and the increase in the share of state budget revenues in the consolidated budget of Ukraine (without intergovernmental transfers) has been observed. The share of local budget revenues without transfers (own revenues) decreased by 1,5 times from 31,4 % in 2002 to 20,9 % in 2018. In the financing system of local self-government, during the study period, the share of transfers increased. The share of own revenues decreased almost 2 times, from 78,4 % in 2002 to 42,1 % in 2018, and the share of transfers increased from 21,6 % to 57,9 %, respectively. This dependence on transfers is of a serious scale: in 45 % of the united territorial communities (UTC) transfers in 2016 amounted to 75 % of revenues. The increase in the share of transfers in the budgets of local self-government, the dependence of the amount of transfers from central authorities and the inability to plan them, as well as the transfer of powers without adequate financial support, pose significant risks to the economic self-sufficiency of local communities. In 2016, 76 % of expenditures of local self-government bodies were performed on behalf of central authorities as financing of "delegated powers" (health care, education, social protection). At the same time, transfers from the central level accounted for only 57,9 % of local budget revenues. That is, a considerable part of delegated powers of local self-government bodies are forced to finance at the expense of their own income. As a result, they have little resources to fulfill their "own authority", namely the construction and repair of local roads and housing, the provision of utilities (water supply and sewerage, waste collection, heating, etc.), as well as local transport and development of " objects of culture and rest. Under the burden of current expenditures, the investment capacity of local self-government bodies is small. The authorities at the oblast and rayon level are not entirely self-governing, as regional and district levels act as local self-government bodies (regional and district councils), as well as executive bodies (oblast and rayon state administrations). The first few have very few powers, and their executive bodies are not created, although this is provided by the Concept. The latter are subordinate to the central authorities and they have a dominant role. All this complicates the assessment of changes at the regional and district levels in the context of financial decentralization. A prerequisite for the normal functioning and development of UTC is their economic self-sufficiency. This implies that the UTC revenues correspond to the expenditures necessary for the exercise of their own and delegated powers. An appropriate methodology is needed to carry out an assessment of the economic self-sufficiency of the communities. More than 4 years of decentralization reform have taken place, but there is no corresponding methodology. The lack of a methodology for assessing the economic self-sufficiency of the combined territorial is due to objective reasons. First, this is the lack of a clear and legally-established division of powers between the executive and local self-government bodies, as well as between the levels of the latter. Secondly, the lack of standards and norms of financial and infrastructural provision of public services (schools, kindergartens, paramedical outpatient departments, out-patient departments, engineering networks, etc.). Conclusions. The conducted study shows that Ukraine has a centralized system of incomes and expenditures, and the reform of financial decentralization has led to the opposite result, namely, to increase the dependence of local self-government on central authorities. The reform of financial decentralization in Ukraine tends to support a model that is more based on transfers than on its own revenue.
The article states that the cooperative movement has become widespread in order to overcome the socio-economic problems of rural communities and restructuring of the social system at the end of XIX at the beginning of the XX centuries in various regions of Ukraine, which subsequently became the national socio-economic phenomenon. The formation of service cooperatives was carried out through the creation of agricultural partnerships and their associations in cooperative unions, federations and development centers. It was proved that the formation of a cooperative movement did not take place without the intervention of public authorities, which in addition to the adoption of relevant normative documents constantly tried to impose their party ideology to the citizens through collaboration with cooperative system. It was established that at the same time the cooperative institutions influenced on the political life of the country through the financing of parties and fulfilling the propaganda work among the population. It was determined that the spread of cooperation was due to the mass involving of cooperatives and their institutions to the cultural-educational, information-educational and upbringing work. In particular, the special attention was paid to the creation of cooperative circles, schools, libraries, carrying out of demonstrative shows and exhibitions, organization of hire stations of agricultural machinery and equipment. The expediency of taking into account the historical experience of the formation and development of cooperation as a social and economic phenomenon in the state in the current conditions of the reform of decentralization of power and the emergence of rural united territorial communities was summarized. It was noted that it is necessary to focus the attention on the main ideological and organizational principles of the revival and development of the Ukrainian cooperative movement, education of nationally conscious members of society, raising the cultural-educational and financial-economic level of the population for the successful development of rural areas of Ukraine.
The article reveals the expected risks in the process of decentralization of power in Ukraine. The basic definitions of decentralization have been analyzed. The main risks of decentralization are as follows: lack of mechanisms envisaged by the draft Law "On the Association of Territorial Communities", for the implementation of administrative and territorial reform; weakening of state control over the implementation of extended powers by local self-government bodies; the threat of failure to finance the powers of local self-government bodies. Three important stages of the development of the National Support Strategy are identified: the first stage requires the characterization and understanding of the national NSP; the second stage provides for an analysis of the current situation in the country; The third stage involves refining the international strategy-response. It is proved that the new system of public administration in Ukraine should be created through administrative reform. Therefore, the content of administrative reform consists, on the one hand, in the complex reorganization of the existing system of public administration in all spheres of public life in Ukraine. On the other hand - in the development of some institutions of public administration, which Ukraine has not yet created as a sovereign state.
The article examines the tendencies of the investment sector of the Central region of Ukraine, which are formed under the influence of implementation of administrative and financial decentralization in Ukraine. The method of estimation of influence of administrative-financial decentralization on investment processes in the region is proposed on the basis of calculation of indicators of the ratio: a) growth rates of capital investments and foreign direct investments against own incomes; b) the rate of growth of expenditures on socio-economic development (in particular, public administration, health care, education, housing and communal services, repair and maintenance of roads, etc.) against own revenues of local budgets. The author’s method is tested on the example of cities of regional importance and districts of the Central region of Ukraine. It was found that: 1) in 2016-2018 the most effective was the policy of capital investment in Cherkasy region, the least effective – in the Kirovograd region; 2) the increase of the financial potential of the cities of regional importance and districts of the studied region did not cause a significant stimulating influence on attracting foreign investments; 3) the reorientation of local authorities’ own resources on capital expenditures on the development of social, transport and communal infrastructure is extremely slow. Systemic and dialectical methods were used in the study; logical generalization, system analysis, comparison and synthesis; strategic analysis, graphic. The works of leading scientists and specialists on a wide range of socio-economic problems, the operational information of the Main Directorates of Statistics in Vinnitsa, Kirovograd, Cherkasy and Poltava regions of Ukraine as well as information on the implementation of relevant local budgets of the Departments of Finance of Vinnitsa, Kirovograd and Cherkasy regional state administrations constitute the information base of the research.
The reform of education in Ukraine has been found to be consistent with the reform of decentralization. It is determined that in the process of decentralization reform, communities have an important strategic task – creating education management. It has been stated that the transfer of financial authority to the local level can help Ukraine to move away from the previous system of planning and implementation of educational policy by reducing the gap between operational and financial management, and the involvement of local authorities and schools in the decision-making process should improve the allocation of budgetary resources. In turn, this should lead to increased access to quality education, especially in more remote areas of Ukraine. It is emphasized that in the context of decentralization, the decision to open and close schools is taken by the communities based on their capabilities and needs, and no one except the village, town or city mayor and his assistants knows where the school should be, where the kindergarten should be, which school provides quality knowledge and which does not have sufficient resources to provide quality educational services and no official from the regional state administration or the Ministry of Education has a better situation than them. Accordingly, the optimization of the school network is only partly an initiative of the central government – every community can refuse to close even the smallest schools if it can and wants to finance them. The financial aspect of decentralization of the education system in Ukraine is fundamental, because not all communities are currently capable. The main objective of the CTA is to reduce the costs of maintaining educational institutions along with improving the quality of educational services. For this purpose in Ukraine the process of creation of reference schools is actively proceeding. The article examines successful examples of management of educational networks of creation in some newly created RTGs of Zaporizhzhya region, namely Priazovskaya, Girsivska and Orikhovska. Supportive schools have already been established and are operating successfully in each of these integrated territorial communities. These steps have significantly reduced the cost of maintaining educational institutions. All educators who wanted to continue their work were employed in reforming.
Introduction. In Ukraine over the past decades there has been an extremely difficult situation with the renewal of fixed assets. The level of wear of fixed assets at the disposal of public authorities is more than 50%. In this circumstances, the issue of finding resources for financing capital expenditures for updating of the infrastructure, creation of new fixed assets becomes a topical issue. An important role in this process is given to local budgets, which, under decentralization, have broad powers in many areas, including those related to the implementation of capital expenditures. Local borrowing has a significant potential for revenue mobilization, which practically does not used by local authorities. Therefore, the study of this institute is an extremely important area of justification for further improvement of the budgetary system of Ukraine. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to study legal norms and practices for the implementation of local borrowing, as well as to develop recommendations on how to improve this institution. Results. As a result of the review of the current legislation, it was discovered that the main drawbacks that inhibit the development of local borrowing in Ukraine are the lack of a methodology for issuing external local loan bonds and the limited access of local councils to the borrowing market. The analysis of statistical data showed a low state of development of the local borrowing market in Ukraine. The main reasons for this situation are the inability of local councils to compete on an equal footing with the state in the financial market; long period of the crisis state of the national economy; low level of experience in the issue of municipal bonds; a large number of bureaucratic procedures and restrictions. Conclusions. The research showed that the institution of local borrowing in Ukraine is, in fact, at the stage of formation. There are significant shortcomings both in the legislation and in the practice of local borrowing. The least developed in Ukraine is a segment of municipal bonds. The frequency of issuing such loans is low and they are carried out irregularly. The fact that the municipal bonds market is the most active segment in the market of municipal borrowings of developed countries, gives grounds to assert about its considerable untapped potential in Ukraine. Reforming the budgetary system of Ukraine and increasing the financial autonomy of local authorities can be an impetus for its development in Ukraine. In order to make this possible, it is necessary to stimulate the development of financial market institutions, especially the stock market. The ways of development of local borrowings are offered as follow: establishment of objective and flexible criteria for obtaining the opportunity to enter the loan market; increase in the number of types of bonds; creation of an intermediary underwriter for bond issue; developing a system of incentives for investors in municipal bonds. Implementation of the proposed directions, together with a set of measures designed to develop the financial market and increase financial literacy of the population, will ensure greater efficiency of the use of local budgets and the development of the economy.
Introduction. In the context of budget decentralization in Ukraine, local governments are trying to make effective use of their powers and financial potential of the territorial community in order to increase local budget revenues and funding of services at the local level. The purpose is to find out the essence of the financial potential of territorial communities and to analyze its current state in the context of existing and potential sources of financial resources that can be used by local governments for the realization of their goals and perspectives. Methods. To achieve goal, a system of general scientific and special methods of research was used: analysis, synthesis and generalization - in the processing of literary, statistical, legislative and Internet sources on the topic of research; methods of systematizing and generalizing data, comparing and detailing were used when conducting analysis of local budget revenues; graphical, tabular and visualization methods were used for visual representation of the processed data; abstract-logical method was used for summarize the material presented and formulate conclusions. Results. It has been found out that financial potential of a local community is a collection of available and potential sources of financial resources that local governments can attract through budgetary, investment, credit and grant mechanisms to ensure the effective functioning of the community. It is proved that budgetary funds is gradually increasing and prevail in the structure of financial resources of local self-government bodies in Ukraine. Despite the positive dynamics, local budget revenues have not yet become the basis of financial independence of territorial communities, and tax revenues make up 88% of the structure of local budget own revenues. Possibilities of attracting private sector investment funds on the basis of public-private partnership as a potential source of financial resources of territorial communities are analyzed. It has been found out that the sources of growth of the financial potential of local self-government are credits and grants, which provide financing for infrastructure projects for the development of territorial communities. It is proved that the specific reserve of resource provision of territorial communities is human capital, with the participation of which the formation, distribution and use of financial resources of the community takes place. Emphasis is placed on revenues from the disposal of municipal waste as an inexhaustible financial resource of territorial communities. Proposals for increasing the efficiency of utilization of the financial potential of territorial communities at the present stage of development have been developed. Conclusions. The subject of further scientific exploration is the search for and in-depth study of ways to effectively use the financial potential of local communities to improve the quality and accessibility of public services at the local level.
The article is devoted to the identification of the higher education development trends on the basis of the key analytical documents analysis of the following international organizations in higher education: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (ОЕCD), World Bank, European University Association. UNESCO documents are focused on the autonomy of higher education institutions and academic freedom. Autonomy means that degree of self-governance necessary for effective decision making by institutions of higher education regarding their academic work, standards, management and related activities consistent with systems of public accountability, especially in respect of funding provided by the state, and respect for academic freedom and human rights. However, the nature of institutional autonomy may differ according to the type of establishment involved. Autonomy is the institutional form of academic freedom and a necessary precondition to guarantee the proper fulfilment of the functions entrusted to higher-education teaching personnel and institutions. The World Bank Analytical reports are emphasized on the financial autonomy as an integral part of the higher education financing system. The OECD reports are devoted to the university autonomy in the context of financing, quality assessment and management of higher education institutions. The tendencies of the development of higher education systems in Europe are defined. They are increasing of the role of higher education in ensuring the competitiveness of countries in the world economic community; increasing of the universities competition in market economy and controlling over the public financial resources effective using; increasing demands for higher education quality; decentralization of higher education institutions management; development of the institutional autonomy and academic freedom; the interconnection of institutional autonomy, accountability and responsibility for the quality of higher education; the educational paradigm changing in terms of learning and teaching recognition as key institutional priorities.
James Gresham, Diego Ambasz, Suhas Parandekar, Moreno, Juan Manuel · 5 authors
Ukraine has embarked on an ambitious reform agenda with great potential to transform and reposition the education system as a driver for economic growth and social prosperity. The reforms introduced following the Euromaidan Revolution have generated great optimism by decentralizing and democratizing the education system, while laying the foundations for greater alignment and integration with European norms and standards in education. Despite Ukraine's impressive foundations in and history of education, the system appears misaligned with the changing needs of the economy and the population. Skills demanded by the expanding sectors of the economy are different than those supplied by the education system, and change has been slow. Despite high levels of educational attainment in Ukraine, human capital remains a small share of national wealth, suggesting disparities in quality and relevance of learning. Furthermore, the system remains inefficient and slow to adjust to the declining student-age population, which also allows equity gaps to persist. Although the ongoing reform agenda is moving in the right direction, systemic imbalances and the inertia of history threaten to undermine Ukraine's education reform agenda. This review identifies five priority areas for reform going forward related to vision, governance, financing, incentives, and information. Advancing the reform agenda while attending to these priority areas will help to ensure the transformation and modernization of the education system that Ukrainians want and deserve.
It has been identified that in the process of decentralization reform, united territorial communities have a very important strategic task - the creation of an educational management mechanism. It is stated that the purpose of reforming education under decentralization is first and foremost the transfer of powers and responsibility for managing education to local governments and directly to schools. An important aspect of the decentralization of the education system is the study of the principles of decentralization in education. The transfer of authority and responsibility for financing and managing education to territorial communities is a key aspect of reform. The decentralized type leaves most of the educational tasks to local governments and is based on the principle that each member of the community (parent, educator, teacher and teacher), as a taxpayer, alone addresses the educational needs of children in local communities and schools, and will be an impetus to improving the level of education in institutions of one community. It is established that the principles of decentralization in the management of education are based on: financial motives, efficiency motives, political motives. The financial aspect of the decentralization of the education system in Ukraine is fundamental, because not all communities are currently capable. The main objective of the CTA is to reduce the costs of maintaining educational institutions along with improving the quality of educational services. For this purpose, the process of establishing reference schools is actively ongoing in Ukraine. The problem of a small number of students in small towns and villages will be solved by such optimization of the school network. Decentralization of government diminishes the amount of decision-making by the state, delegating some powers in individual areas to nonexecutive and non-executive regional authorities. Decentralization of governance is one aspect of the application of European experience in the development of education. The redistribution of functions by the education system has a great influence on improving the level of higher education in Ukraine and bringing it closer to the European level of education. We believe that decentralization in the management of education can be accomplished only in complex: between the head of the educational institution and the educators, between the authorities and consumers of educational services, between the state and civil society, between the state executive power and local self-government.
Over the past few years, there has been an exponential increase in interest in cryptocurrencies and the ideas that they carry and which have a huge impact on the marketing environment, economic and social relations now, and in the future possibly on the whole structure of society as a whole. It is proved that in the future, cryptocurrency will face a rapid rise and formation of it as a self-regulating and full-fledged participant in electronic money or a complete collapse and degeneration of this system into something else, but with slight differences in the functioning mechanism. Today, cryptocurrency has a large number of opportunities and strengths, which was proved during the SWOT analysis, the rapid growth rate of capitalization and exchange rate and the great interest of the Ukrainian population in it, as evidenced by the results of our survey.
It is substantiated that creation of regional tourist destination management organizations based on public-private partnership (in terms of combining funds and efforts) in the tourism industry can become an effective model of tourism management under conditions of decentralization of power in Ukraine. There are several key benefits for government authorities, civil society and business from combining their efforts and funds to develop the tourism industry. The conclusions are based on European and world experience, as well as recommendations of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on the success factors of destination management/marketing organization (DMO – term that defines regional tourist destination management organizations in Western countries). The current state of work of destination management organizations in the world has been challenged by changing the course from marketing to management as their leading function, which requires increasing responsibility and rethinking their activities. The essence of the term “destination” is revealed according to UNWTO recommendations and this term is determined as the main one used when determining the tourist region. The basic success factors, components of an effective regional tourist destination management organization are revealed, such as: leadership, institutional determination, integration of public and private budgets, effective management and strategic vision that is related to sustainable development of tourist destination. The possible ways of financing and legal subordination of regional tourist destination management organizations according to legislation of Ukraine are considered and it is substantiated that these issues require deeper study and development of practical recommendations on implementation, as today there is no transparent system that would allow financing of non-state institution from state funds.
Relevance. In modern conditions of integration with the EU countries, the regulatory framework of the socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine is supplemented from the standpoint of decentralization of local authorities in accordance with European requirements for reforming the domestic economy. The main reasons for improving regional management, taking into account the experience of developed countries of the world, are: unsatisfactory level of financial support for the regions of Ukraine; improper delineation of administrative-territorial powers; unproductive distribution and redistribution of income and expenses between the state and regions; imperfect management of the processes of formation and use of financial resources at the local level. All this makes the balanced development of both the regions of Ukraine and territorial communities, the main subject of socio-economic progress of a certain territory, virtually impossible.Goal and tasks. Identification of challenges and threats to stimulate the socio-economic development of regions on the basis of financial decentralization.Results. The article presents the results of a theoretical and practical study of the process of stimulating the socio-economic development of the regions of Ukraine based on financial decentralization. The most significant problems of socio-economic development of Ukraine are identified. The role of state regional policy in solving these problems is revealed. The role of decentralization as a factor in regional development is substantiated. The essence of the concept of "decentralization" and its types is revealed, its mission is indicated. The results of observations of the processes of financial decentralization of local governments and territorial communities are presented. Positive changes and threats were identified regarding the stimulation of the socio-economic development of the regions based on financial decentralization.Findings. The financial decentralization of power has created new opportunities for the development of territories through new approaches to financing and managing the areas of community life (education and health), increasing the sources of local budgets, expanding the managerial powers of local governments and opportunities for publicprivate and inter-municipal partnerships, increasing the volume of supporting the implementation of projects of socio-economic and infrastructural development of territories. However, the issues of relations between such levels as the territorial community – district – region – state; financing of territorial development programs. The issue of economic self-sufficiency of territorial communities is not considered, which could, provided the rational use of the resource base, strengthen it and improve the financial situation. Consequently, the development of a territorial community at the local level is possible only if the correct state policy and the policy of local authorities based on financial decentralization are formed.
У статті на основі аналізу причин стрімкого падіння цінності криптовалют у 2018 р. і особливостей 17 альткоїнів з найбільшою ринковою капіталізацією зроблено висновки про вектори розвитку криптовалют і перспективи цього феномену. Виявлено вектори розвитку криптовалют: 1) валюти платформ для створення і функціонування децентралізованих додатків (Ethereum та альтернативні платформи: Eos (позиціонується як швидша, простіша, дешевша); Cardano (для фінансових додатків, що використовуються у щоденній діяльності); Neo (валюта платформи, дружньої до регуляторів (зокрема, китайських); Ehereum Classic – більш децентралізована, з більш строгою незворотністю транзакцій, ніж у Ethereum); 2) платформи для більш ефективних транскордонних платежів (Ripple та більш децентралізована альтернатива – Stellar); 3) вирішення технічних проблем біткоїна (Litecoin – більш зручна для дрібних трансакцій, Bitcoin Cash – альтернативне вирішення проблеми масштабування трансакцій); 4) полегшення торгівлі криптовалютами і вирішення проблеми їхньої волатильності – Tether; 5) внутрішні валюти криптовалютних бірж (Binance Coin); 6) збільшення анонімності трансакцій: Monero, Dash; 7) забезпечення транзакцій в Інтернеті Речей – IOTA; 8) універсальна валюта для віртуальних розваг – TRON. Обґрунтовано гіпотезу, що, не впоравшись з амбітною роллю альтернативи суверенним грошам ієрархічної природи, криптовалюти частково зійдуть до ролі віртуальних валют для локальних віртуальних просторів, а частково перенесуть частину своїх властивостей у традиційні платіжні системи, аби полегшити, скажімо, транскордонні транзакції. Загалом, процес поширення криптовалют синхронізується з процесом поширення інформаційно-мережевої економіки.
Problem setting. The process of decentralization, which was initiated in order to strengthen the material and financial basis of local self-government, requires the latest approaches to its implementation, given the complexity of the process, the large number of issues of the functioning of the territorial communities, which it covers and the ambiguity of the consequences it leads to. Since it, on the one hand, can contribute to the development of separate territorial communities at the expense of additional financial resources and, on the other hand, create barriers for the development of other communities with less economic potential and can not compete with more developed regions, provided that the transition to a self-financing model of local self-government is preferable .This is particularly evident in the management of budgetary funds that are available to territorial communities and should be used most rationally and efficiently on the one hand and have enough to finance their aspirated needs from another. And in view of this, there is a need for an analysis of the methods of managing budget funds in a decentralized environment that would correspond to the current trends in the development of territorial communities and were of a new character.Recent research and publications analysis. A number of scholars in their writings touched upon issues of budget activity in the conditions of decentralization, including in its fiscal aspect, among them: V. Bodrov, T. Buturlakin, A. Vasiliev, G. Voznyak, O. Kyrylenko, A. Lelechenko, Z. Lobodina, G. Lopushniak, M. Vlivdar, V. Kuybida, I. Lunin, S. Romaniuk, A. Tkachuk, G. Shakhov and others. Among foreign scholars should mention Sh. Blankarta, G. Bivaleets, M. J. Byukenen, R. A. Masgraveva, Y. Kulyavika and others.The scholars and the questions of the concept of fiscal decentralization were considered, which were reflected in the works of O. Borislavskaya, I. Volokhova, V. Hamana, M. Goncharenko, Y. Grinchenko, O. Kyrilenko, N. Kryshtof, O. Lisenko, O. Onishchenko, S. Romanyuk, M. Ruban, A. Yakymchuk, V. Yaroshchuk and others like that.However, the question of the methodology of managing budget funds in conditions of decentralization and its improvement was not the subject of a separate scientific analysis.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. In general, the issue of budget activities in the context of decentralization was considered mainly from the point of view of the functioning of individual budgets and the needs of their adaptation to this process. That is, the scholars considered separate issues of budget activity in a decentralized environment without analyzing the methodology of managing budget funds in the course of decentralization processes.At the same time, it is the methods of management of budget funds that would correspond to the current state of decentralization processes taking place in local self-government were not the subject of separate scientific research, and therefore there is a need for scientific research in this direction.Paper main body. From the point of view of public administration of budgetary funds in the conditions of decentralization, it is necessary to determine the method of management of budget funds in the conditions of decentralization as a set of consistent actions aimed at achieving the result in the form of improved management of such budgetary funds. In view of the complex nature of budget relations and the issues of legal and practical regulation of fiscal decentralization, it is advisable to choose an approach based on development, with subsequent practical application, not one and a number of new methods that should improve the management of budgetary funds in conditions of decentralization. Having grasped the most important issues of managing budget funds in the territorial communities.At the state level, the relevant financial, property and budgetary rights of local self-government are guaranteed, with the allocation of local budgets as independent components in the budget system of Ukraine, and the opportunities for transferring resources to the bodies of self-organization of the population are guaranteed, which must be taken into account during the management of budget funds in conditions of decentralization.Until the start of a new budget period, territorial communities are not able to take advantage of all the financial opportunities provided to united territorial communities. Including receive corresponding revenues to the budget of the united territorial community, as provided for in Article 64 of the Budget Code of Ukraine. And this reduces the budget opportunities of the united territorial community, especially when the union took place at the beginning of the fiscal year. Therefore, it is expedient to allow such associations to be held and in the future, without limiting them only in the framework of 2018, by making appropriate amendments to the current legislation and adding in this part of the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities.The territorial community is estimated by the population criterion and the area without taking into account the particulars of the area (the mountainous location, the severity of the availability of particular settlements or parts of the territories), the existing infrastructure on the ground (its degree of development, wear, suitability for use), natural and climatic conditions, etc. Therefore, it is advisable to supplement the Methodology, as well as the Law of Ukraine “On Voluntary Association of Territorial Communities”, with norms that would take into account a greater number of factors for the financing needs of territorial communities.The resources available to the territorial communities should be the basis of their activities and the effectiveness of their use will be directly dependent on the possibility of functioning of such communities, on the principle – the lack of resources dictates the need for joining another territorial community. Also, not all territorial communities are fully capable of self-financing, and therefore need support from the State Budget.An important issue is the transfer of powers without their proper funding, which leads to the creation of a significant amount of deficit within the local budgets to cover the use of funds that could be used to develop the territorial communities. Therefore, it is important in the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities to consider the mechanism of management of budget funds, which should be based on the appropriate level of financing of delegated powers, without which the execution of such powers or other functions of local self-government may be endangered. Also, during the management of budget funds, it should be possible to borrow all the budgets of local self-government bodies, especially the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which at the expense of the received funds will be able to implement projects that are important for the communities and develop the economies of such communities. At the same time, the restrictions contained in the Budget Code of Ukraine, regarding the financial possibilities of borrowing funds of territorial communities and their use within the budgets of development should be kept.There is a legal framework for involving civil society organizations in the consideration of budget issues of local self-government and their control by the budget process at the level of territorial communities. However, the Methodology for the formation of capable territorial communities does not provide for the possibility of conducting public financial control over the formation of the budget, primarily through its public discussion, and further control over its implementation by the public and public organizations of such a community. This shortcoming must be corrected by making appropriate additions to this Methodology.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The main new approaches to improving the methodology for managing budget funds in the territorial communities are as follows:– transition to the budget of the united territorial community from the budgets of the territorial communities that united without setting the time frame for such a transition;– management of budget funds in terms of allocating financial support between the budgets of the joint territorial communities, which needs to be improved and taking into account additional factors influencing the need for features of location (in particular landscape), natural and climatic conditions;– management of the budget funds of a territorial community is based on the following key provisions: 1) territorial communities should receive at least 50% (according to the model of European states) from taxes, fees, payments paid on the territory of the community; 2) territorial communities should be self-financing, which, on the one hand, will put them in an effective use of resources, and on the other, create additional incentives for the formation of united territorial communities that will be financially self-sufficient; 3) support from the state budget should be provided on the basis of functions, including social, carried out by the territorial communities, with full financing of these functions;– management of local budgets, which consists of borrowing opportunities for all budgets of local self-government bodies, especially budgets of united territorial communities;– introduction of public control in the field of local budgets, the formation and implementation of the budget of territorial communities.The prospect of further research is the detailed elaboration of the identified ways of improving the methodology of budget funds management and the formation of legislative acts for its implementation.
a rise in the standard of living of the population, subject to an increase in social spending and a significant share of the public sector; the field of education, especially primary and secondary education, through the delegation of educational functions to the local level and their financial support, as well as the active participation of the local community in the financing, management and control of these institutions; the health sector, which, given the inadequate management and low level of tax decentralization, will be characterized by a deterioration in the availability and quality of medical services for the rural population; improvement of local infrastructure due to the ability of communities to independently control costs, which will reduce the cost of work and maximize local needs. The prospects for the development of rural settlements in Ukraine due to the influence of financial decentralization implementation are substantiated.
У статті охарактеризовано основні виклики, що постали перед фінансовими системами країн світу з огляду на появу криптовалют, які здатні порушити монополію центральних банків щодо контролю грошової маси в обігу. Визначено наявні у світовій та вітчизняній практиці підходи до визначення сутності криптовалют. Розглянуто основні відмінності між електронними грошима і віртуальною валютою. Здійснено оцінку тенденцій на ринку криптовалют, динаміки капіталізації основних криптовалют, зокрема біткоіна, структури криптовалютного ринку. Проаналізовано ситуацію відносно визначення правового статусу криптовалюти в зарубіжних країнах та Україні, обґрунтовано наявність у світовій практиці п’яти основних підходів до регулювання ринку криптовалют. Визначено переваги та недоліки потенційного використання криптовалют як платіжного засобу, а також ризики, пов’язані із частковим заміщенням офіційних платіжних засобів криптовалютами. Визначено ключові передумови застосування ефективних регулятивних підходів до здійснення операцій з криптовалютами, напрями побудови законодавчо-нормативної бази таких операцій в Україні.
Alexander Ivanov, Yevhenii Babichenko, Hlib Kanunnikov, Paul Karpus · 8 authors
Blockchain as a technology is rapidly developing, finding more and more new entry points into everyday life. This is one of the elements of the technical Revolution 4.0, and it is used in the field of supply, maintenance of various types of registers, access to software products, combating DDOS attacks, distributed storage, fundraising for projects, IoT, etc.Nowadays, there are many blockchainplatforms in the world. They have one technological root but different applications. There are many prerequisites to the fact that in the future the number of new decentralized applications will increase. Therefore, it is important to develop a methodology for determining the optimal blockchainbased platform to solve a specific problem. As an example, consider the worldfamous platforms Ethereum, Nem, and Stellar. Each of them allows to develop decentralized applications, issue tokens, and execute transactions. At the same time, the key features of these blockchainbased platforms are not similar to one another. These very features will be considered in the article.Purpose. Identify the key parameters that characterize the blockchainbased platforms. This will provide an opportunity to present a complex blockchain technology in the form of a simple and understandable architecture. Based on these parameters and using the expertise of the article’s authors, we will be able to develop a methodology to be used to solve the problems of choosing the optimal blockchainbased platform for solving the problem of developing smart contracts and issuing tokens.Methods. Analysis of the complexity of using blockchainbased platforms. Implementation of token issuance, use of test and public networks, execution of transactions, analysis of the development team and the community, analysis of the user interface and the developer interface.Discussion. By developing a platform comparison methodology to determine optimal characteristics, we can take the development process to a new level. This will allow to quickly and effectively solve the tasks.Results. Creation of a methodology for comparison blockchainbased platforms.
Doctor of legal sciences, V.M. PASHKOV, Associate professor
The implementation of the health care reform in Ukraine is accompanied by the introduction of new technologies. The use of 3-D technologies in medicine can serve as an example thereof. Although, some innovations provide only the implementation of such technologies in the long run. Thus, the adoption of the Laws of Ukraine "On electronic documents and electronic document circulation", "On State Financial Guarantees of Medical Care of the Population" was a prerequisite for the adoption of the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine of 19 July 2005 No. 360," as of April 18, 2018, No. 735. In our opinion, the main novelty of this act is an introduction of "electronic recipe", issued under the same rules as the usual recipes by authorized person in the information (information and telecommunication) system of the business entity and signed with an electronic digital signature using the enhanced certificate of a public key via reliable electronic digital signature. At the same time, the business entity is free to decide on using of electronic prescriptions, except when the requirements for mandatory electronic prescription are specified by law. With the consent of the patient, the business entity may provide additional services related to the electronic recipe (recipe notification via mobile phone, e-mail, etc.). For example, medical institutions have to register a declaration between a patient and chosen medical institution (a doctor), and such information allows the National Health Service to keep records for the further financing of such medical facilities. And block-chain could be used to display such information, simultaneously simplifying the process since collecting and sharing of such information is automated and timely. In addition, block-chain is used in the healthcare sector in order to deliver high quality and effective medicines to patients. Some researchers believe that global pharmaceutical supply chains are complex and work with outdated platforms that do not provide effective partner collaboration in complying with regulatory guidelines, so that they cannot guarantee the security of medecines distribution. In this sense, according to experts, block-chain is a decentralized platform for transactions between equal partners in a secure environment protected from unauthorized access. This technology allows to safely performing homogeneous operations with information without intermediaries in displaying all transaction data. The above means that the benefit of using the block-chain system in healthcare is not in doubt, but there is a problem of legal support for such an innovation, and not only in health care, but also in general. Theoretical problems of legal regulation in healthcare and patients’ rights protection attract the attention of many scholars. They were researched, in particular, by R.A. Maydanyk, I.Ya. Senyuta, Z.S. Hladun, I.O Bohomazova, Ye.A. Hriekov, A.O. Harkusha, and others. However, the peculiarities of digital technologies’ use and the use of block-chain in particular has remained unscathed by scolars and medical law specialists. The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential impact of block-chain technology on healthcare, its legal nature and the possibility of legal protection of patients’ rights in the block-chain system. The author of the research used scientific publications of leading experts in the field of medical law, current and prospective Ukrainian legislation. The research is based on an organic combination of general scientific and special-legal research methods. From the experts’ point of view, the block-chain could be used at least in the following spheres. Firstly: as an instrument of patients’ data storage. Till now, for example vaccination records (and almost all medical data in general) have been stored mainly in hard copies, and only in some cases, in electronic databases of medical institutions. In this case, patients do not have any mechanisms for controlling what happens to personal data stored in various medical documents. Theoretically, such data can be transferred to unknown organizations or just being lost as a result of a system failure. Secondly: block-chain can be used for monitoring of the supply of pharmaceutical products, including medicines containing virulent substances. It should be noted that the technology of Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been used for a long time. Supply Chain Management (SCM) – is a relatively new term. This concept is complex and includes earlier used definitions such as ECR (Efficient Customer Response) and DRP (Distribution Resource Planning). Nowadays, the patient cannot track which drug is being sold to him or her, both in independent purchasing and in inpatient treatment. Although, the patient has the right to demand, for example, a quality certificate for a medicinal product, but nobody prevents an unscrupulous vendor or employee of a pharmacy institution from tampering with it. Thirdly: such technologies can be helpful for the execution of smart contracts by legal entities including but not limited to insurance companies. Smart contract is an electronic protocol designed by using a computer code. Using block-chain technologies aims to transfer information and to ensure fulfillment of contract terms by both parties. Smart contracts could be replicated with the direct provision of medical care services between a patient and a health care facility, as well as with settlements between the National Health Service and medical institutions, with doctors of which patients have signed a declaration. But, the most interesting would be the use of such smart contracts for medical insurance (and not only medical). Analysis of the prospects of using the block-chain technology allows us to conclude that the objects of legal relations in this sphere are the following: 1) software; 2) telecommunication networks; 3) information resources, products and services; 4) the rights of patients in healthcare; 6) information security. The entire scope of legal relations in healthcare, including but not limited to block-chain, is private (dispositive) by its legal nature despite the publicity of using block-chain. Nevertheless, that the lack of imperative principles of block-chain implementation in healthcare, including ensuring of patients' rights, can make it impossible to use such up-to-date progressive technologies. Summarizing all mentioned before, it should be noted that it is very likely that the lack of legal clarity and unambiguousness of block-chain technology in healthcare can cause uncertainty in patients’ rights legal protection.