NORMATIVE-LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR REGULATING THE ACTIVITIES OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Introduction. Under the conditions of power decentralization and full-scale invasion, the institution of local self-government faced unprecedented challenges related to mass internal displacement and the growing number of persons requiring comprehensive social support. Since the purely state model of social protection has proven its organizational inflexibility, there has been a delegation of basic social powers to the level of territorial communities, accompanied by the rapid development of grassroots social initiatives as a civil society response to the crisis. This necessitates an acute need for a systemic transformation of the normative-legal framework, which should create flexible and transparent legal mechanisms for the institutionalization of social services provision, direct financing of social work, and support of local social initiatives within territorial communities. Purpose and objectives of the article. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current regulatory and legal framework governing the activities of territorial communities in Ukraine in order to systematize support for local social initiatives within territorial communities. Scientific novelty. The study systematizes the multi-level hierarchy of municipal legislation through the prism of social work needs, taking into account the latest changes of 2024–2025. The evolution of the organizational structure of local self-government bodies is traced, and it is proven that the unregulated status of the community as a full-fledged legal entity of public law creates significant institutional barriers. Staffing disparities of social work specialists between urban and rural areas during the implementation of social contracting, participatory budgets, and digital initiatives, particularly the DREAM platform, are revealed. Results. Financial autonomy is a basic condition for the implementation of municipal social programs; however, the withdrawal of local resources during the war requires new compensatory instruments. To increase the social resilience of territories, it is necessary to finally resolve the problem of communities’ legal personality at the legislative level, which will allow integrating grassroots social initiatives into a single system of social services provision and harmonize domestic legislation with European standards.