INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 01, JANUARY 2020 ISSN 2277-8616 1376 IJSTR©2020 www.ijstr.org Territorial Government Reform In Ukraine: Problem Aspects Of Strategic Management Yuriy I. Danko, Vyktoria Yu. Medvid, Inna I. Koblianska, Oleksandr V. Kornietskyy, Nadiia P. Reznik Abstract: The article analyzes the activity of realization of strategic planning processes in the united territorial communities (UTCs) of Ukraine based on an analytical generalization of the conducted sociological research. The results of the conducted research characterize the quality of the processes of reforming the administrative-territorial organization and local self-government in Ukraine. Among the main issues identified: low quality of communications in the system of relations between the power and community, non-compliance with the principles of publicity, openness and transparency; the unsystematic nature of the organization of strategic planning in UTCs, the more formal nature of such activities; an essential role of non-governmental organizations in the process of strengthening the professional knowledge competence and the formation of a model of strategic management in UTCs. The obtained results can become the basis for improvement of the scientific and methodological platform f or the training of officials of local self-government bodies. Index Terms: decentralization, administrative-territorial reform, strategic management of territories, united territorial communities ——————————  —————————— 1. INTRODUCTION Currently, a new model of administration and administration in the management of territories is taking place in Ukraine, the content and essence of which is the decentralization of powers with the transfer of higher powers and opportunities to local self-government bodies. The reform of local self-government and territorial organization of power (decentralization) in Ukraine has intended to lay the fundamental foundation for the organization of effective local government at the level of territorial communities, identifying incentives for self-solution of local development issues, based on the interests of the population groups living in this territory. We emphasize that the processes of reforming local self-government and territorial organization of power in Ukraine. Among other things, should also be aimed at promoting (the Concept): the development of forms of direct democracy, increasing the capacity of community members to take joint action in cooperation with the authorities in order to achieve the common goals of community development; raising the level of professionalism of officials of local self-government bodies and the prestige of positions; increasing the openness and transparency of government institutions, reducing corruption and increasing the efficiency of management and use of resources, increasing the investment attractiveness of the territories and reducing social tensions. Since the adoption of the relevant Concept, the processes of decentralization in Ukraine are quite intense (Monitoring). In case, the primary attention during the study of course of reform and its effectiveness, as a rule, is focused on the study of quantitative indicators of these processes: the dynamics of the processes of formation of united territorial communities, the areas covered by these processes, the study of financial aspects of the functioning of new territorial entities. (Monitoring). At the same time, studying and qualitative parameters of the realization of the reform processes that can investigate through the prism of the formation of a "new" vision and an appropriate system of management of territories and governance, in particular, a strategic vision of the development of territories are needed. Thus, integrated sustainable development of territories can not ensure without the understanding of the ways of development in the strategic perspective and the ability of management, experts of local self-government to determine the directions, priorities and prospects of community development, transform strategic plans into specific projects of regional development. It, taking into account new resource opportunities, lays the foundation for an effective system of local self-government and can be considered as a tool for ensuring "human-centred" content of the local policy and the similar nature of the development of territories. 2. METHODS This article is an analytical synthesis of the results of a sociological study initiated in early February 2018 within the framework of the project of research work of young scientists "Formation of the Mechanism for the Implementation of Integrated Territorial Governance in the Transition to Sustainable Development" with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to study the state of realization the processes of strategic planning in the United Territorial Communities (UTCs) of Ukraine. It should note that the process of formation of UTC in Ukraine was started in 2015 when the first 159 UTCs (Digest) have created. According to the monitoring data, as of January 10, 2018, 699 united territorial communities were created in Ukraine. The population, which became part of the combined territorial communities for 2015-2017, is 6.0 million people (14.3% of the total population of Ukraine). In total, 3264 territorial communities have already united – almost a third (29.1%) of the total number of village and town councils that functioned before the commencement process (Monitoring, 2018). Today in Ukraine there are 15 districts, completely "covered" by united communities. In 111 districts, most of the territory has included in the UTCs; 199 districts, which is almost half of the total, have at least one UTC. At the same time, the dynamics ————————————————  Yuriy I.Danko, D. Sc. in Economics, Professor, Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine, e-mail: y.danko@snau.edu.ua.  Vyktoria Yu. Medvid. D. Sc. in Economics, Professor, Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine, e-mail: viktoriya.medved.snau@gmail.com  Inna I. Koblianska. PhD in Economics, Assistant Professor, Sumy National Agrarian University, Ukraine, e-mail: koblyanska2@gmail.com  Oleksandr V. Kornietskyy, D. Sc. in Economics, Professor, Petro Vasilenko Kharkiv National Technical University of Agriculture, Ukraine, e-mail: vova7003@gmail.com  Nadiia P. Reznik, D. Sc. in Economics, Professor, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine, e-mail: nadya- reznik@ukr.net