About Us – LRHub

About Us

LRHub - is a center for economic development aimed to build a sustainable market-based economy of Ukraine through local economic development tools in response to current challenges.

In partnership with small and medium-sized businesses, which form the backbone of the economy, democratic authorities, and youth, who are agents of change, we are implementing solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency, accountability, and performance of the state.

Our vision

An independent Ukraine with a sustainable market-based economy is developed, in which business, government and youth are catalysts of sustainable growth.

Our mission

To stimulate local economic development through:

Adoption of balanced and effective decisions by goverment; Improvement of business environment, its development and scaling, cost reduction and productivity enhancement; Unleashing the potential of youth and their involvement in decision-making process; Networking of all the key groups to achieve a synergistic effect.

Our journey began in 2016 as a student initiative "Lviv Regulatory Hub" launched in cooperation with the USAID Leadership in Economic Governance (LEV) Program, the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine (SRS), the School of Public Management of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), and World Bank expert Andriy Palianytsia. The Hub was coordinated by Taras Khavunka, who at that time was studying at the Master's Program in Public Administration at the UCU School of Public Management.

In 2017, the student idea was transformed into an independent analytical and advocacy center, which main activities were aimed at making positive changes in local government through analysis, advocacy (promotion of changes) and implementation (realization of changes). For 7 years, the Hub has been successfully implementing the best practices of regulatory and anti-corruption expertise in the country, conducting training on regulatory policy and advocacy, and monitoring the regulatory framework in the local economic development field. During this time, the Hub has successfully implemented more than 20 projects.

Since February 24, 2022, the team of Lviv Regulatory Hub, in cooperation with partners from the government and business sectors and international organizations, has focused all its efforts on supporting and raising funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies and civilians. In 8 months, we managed to transfer goods worth more than UAH 12 000 000, as well as additionally attract and distribute 95 tons of humanitarian aid to 15 regions of the country.

Since September 2022, we have resumed the core work of the organization and expanded our activities in response to the current challenges and the needs of Ukrainians. We got new strategic goals that laid the foundation for further changes. We realized that it was time to transform, as we had already gone beyond the main activities of the Lviv Regulatory Hub and began to cooperate comprehensively with business, government, and youth for the economic growth of communities and the country.

This is how the rethought us, namely the Center for economic development “LRHub”, appeared. Our values, approaches to work, and people, who together form the ecosystem of our organization, remain unchanged.

Timeline

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

The introductory meeting of experts of the USAID Program "Leadership in Economic Governance" was held to launch the Lviv Regulatory Hub initiative;

The presentation of the Lviv Regulatory Hub and the first developments in the field of parking, summer terraces, and land inventory of OTGs was held;

Developed policy analysis in the field of parking, summer terraces, and land inventory of OTGs;

Conducted Regulation discussions in the field of parking, summer terraces, and land inventory of OTGs;

Signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Center for Local Self-Government Development in the Lviv region;

Conducted training seminars on the principles of state regulatory policy for the communities of Sambir district, Lviv, Mostyska, and Hrabovets territorial communities;

Conducted the first seminars within the framework of the "Good Governance" program of the UCU School of Public Administration;

Started cooperation with the legality commission of the Lviv City Council in the field of developing expert opinions on draft regulatory acts;

Developed methodological recommendations for conducting regional regulatory review;

Developed the Procedure for preparing draft regulatory acts and submitting them for consideration by local councils;

Presented developments in the field of parking at the City Workshop in Lviv;

Developed a draft amendment to the Regulations of the Lviv City Council;

Participated in the meeting of the working group of the Lviv Regional State Administration on the development of the SME Development Strategy until 2020;

Adopted the Law on the reform of the parking sector, which involved Lviv Regulatory Hub interns;

Participated in the development of regulation on the privatization (alienation) of communal property of the territorial community of Lviv;

Signed a memorandum of cooperation as regional partners with SE "Prozorro.Sales";

Conducted training seminars on the principles of state regulatory policy for the communities of the Lviv region, as well as Slavske and Turka territorial communities;

Participated in the working group on developing the draft Code of Ethical Conduct for officials of the Lviv City Council;

Participated in the working group on developing anti-corruption measures for the Lviv City Council;

Implemented the "Lviv Industrial Hub" initiative of the Lviv Regional State Administration;

The Lviv, Vynnyky, Chervonohrad city councils, and the Lviv regional council adopted provisions for the implementation of regulatory policy based on the Model Procedure of the Lviv Regulatory Hub;

Initiated public hearings on the regulation of summer terraces of catering establishments in Lviv;

Signed a memorandum of cooperation with the "Regulatory Map of Ukraine" initiative;

Participated in the assessment of the transparency ranking of the 100 largest cities of Ukraine by Transparency International Ukraine;

Implemented 4 projects: “Promotion of the ProZorro.Sales system in the Lviv region”, “Effective regulatory policy as a way to prevent and combat corruption”, “ProZorro tools for community economic development”, “Deregulate together! Platforms for business climate renewal and entrepreneurship development”;

Organized the 1st International Conference on Public Administration (ICPA);

Established the eDEM club and launched the training program “Lviv region - smart region”;

Presented the Lviv Regulatory Hub as a public startup at Red Bull #ActFast;

Started cooperation with the International Scientific and Educational Center for Anti-Corruption (ACREC);

Participated in the International Summer School “Innovative e-governance in local democracy”;

Implemented 2 projects: “Development of an analysis of administrative barriers and bureaucratic procedures for business development at the local level”, “Top-5 business priorities ahead of local elections”;

Finalized the draft decision on the field of summer terraces and participated in the development of the procedure for leasing state and municipal property;

Implemented, together with partners, the lease of attractions, trading places, and areas for their placement through Prozorro.Sales in the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Culture and Recreation Park, Lviv;

Developed case studies for the manual “TOP 20 local corruption schemes - what they are and how to overcome them”;

Enabled e-consultations in the Lviv City Council;

Launched the social initiative of free online consultations for SMEs #SUPPORT_BUSINESS;

Presented the 10 best practices for supporting business in municipalities;

Developed the manual “Local Government Regulatory Policy” and methodological recommendations for conducting local regulatory reviews;

Developed a training course dedicated to model practices for updating the regulatory environment;

Developed provisions for the e-ticket in Lviv region;

Implemented 2 projects: “Economic well-being of communities through regulatory and anti-corruption expertise of local decisions”, “City helper - your accessible and quick interlocutor in the city council”;

Joined the “Reanimation Package of Reforms” coalition;

Signed a memorandum of cooperation with the State Regulatory Service (DRS) and the Lviv Regional State Administration (LODA) regarding the launch of the Regulatory Policy Sector in the Lviv Regional State Administration;

Became members of the public council under the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine (DRSU);

Became members of the “DOZORRO.Sale” community;

Developed the course “Electronic Tools and Services” for the master's program in public administration at the UCU School of Public Administration;

Developed the manual “Advocacy activities of NGOs at the local level: stages, tools, and practical advice”;

Updated the transparency and accountability methodologies “Transparent Cities” in terms of indicators;

Conducted a press briefing and presentation of the Regulatory and Anti-Corruption Expertise Methodology together with the DRS and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP);

Developed methodological materials for military-civil administrations;

Conducted regulatory policy seminars in pilot communities: Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Rivne, Lviv, and Mariupol city councils;

Launched the first comprehensive internship program for youth by LRHub;

Launched the Coordination Center for collecting aid and funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defense, law enforcement agencies, and refugees in cooperation with the Department of Economic Policy of the Lviv Regional State Administration (LODA);

Created a coordination center for the temporary distribution of refugees at Arena Lviv in cooperation with LODA;

Participated in 3 national and/or international conferences, including the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2022 in Lugano, Switzerland;

Implemented 4 projects in the field of humanitarian aid provision;

Completed 2 regulatory reviews in the Chernivtsi and Chervonohrad city councils;

Collected over 1.2 million UAH for the Armed Forces of Ukraine through 2 charity events (WinPack; Winter Fest);

Opened the LRHub office;

Implemented 5 projects with the support of the Danish Refugee Council, the USAID Competitive Economy Program of Ukraine, the East Europe Foundation, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative;

Conducted the second comprehensive internship program for youth by LRHub;

Launched the LRHub YouTube channel;

Provided 30 legal consultations for 15 relocated businesses;

Conducted 12 training events for businesses with the participation of over 100 entrepreneurs;

Provided over a thousand individual and group legal consultations for those affected by the war;

Completed 2 regulatory reviews in the Mykolaiv and Chortkiv city councils;

Participated in five advocacy campaigns at the national level;

Participated in international conferences, including the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 in London, UK, and the OECD Regulatory Policy Committee meeting in Paris, France;

Rebranded the organization, transforming the Analytical and Advocacy Center "Lviv Regulatory Hub" into the Center for Economic Growth "LRHub";

Collected 70 thousand UAH for the 35th Marine Brigade;

Organized the All-Ukrainian conference "Rethinking Reconstruction: Communities on the Path to Victory";

Developed and published the first course in Ukraine on regulatory policy on the educational online platform "Zrozumilo";