On October 3, Professor Olena Budnyk and Associate Professor Inna Chervinska joined the panel “Specificity of mountain settlements in the context of decentralization processes in Ukraine” which was held at the PNU-EcoSystem Center for Information Educational Technologies. Moderator of the event – Rector of Precarpathian National University Professor Ihor Tsependa emphasized the urgency of the problem of development of mountain settlements in the conditions of decentralization processes in Ukraine, in particular improvement of infrastructure, quality of provision of educational services, use of tourist and recreational potential, etc.
The panel was organized jointly with the Verkhovyna District Council and was attended by scientists of the University, heads of institutions and organizations of Verkhovyna Region, heads of the district councils of the mountainous region of the Ukrainian Carpathians. In his speech, Head of the District Council Ivan Shkindyuk pointed out that mountainous and highland regions have their own specifics, which must be taken into account in the process of decentralization in order to preserve highland areas as separate administrative-territorial units, to provide the development of mountainous territories. Associate Professor Inna Chervinska introduced the project “Mountain School” and emphasized the need to preserve traditional crafts and traidings, folk customs and rituals in the education of the mountainous region, teacher training in the conditions of implementation of the New Ukrainian School. In the speeches and discussions of the participants of the event, considerable attention was also paid to the issues of preservation of historical monuments, implementation of project grant programs in order to increase the financial capacity of mountain regions and so on.