Nekhvoroshcha is a small rural municipality in the Poltava oblast with a strategic approach to working with internally displaced persons. They shared their experiences with other Ukrainian municipalities at the online visit as part of the training programme “Steps for Specialists. Organising Work with IDPs – 2023”.
With a population of over 5,000, about 500 IDPs that live here make up 10% of the total population. Viktor Dubovych, head of the village of Nekhvoroshcha, says that since the outset of a full-scale war, working with internally displaced persons have become a new challenge for the municipality.
According to Iryna Balybina, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Poltava oblast, the Nekhvoroshcha municipality has a noteworthy experience in multifaceted work with IDPs, including housing, humanitarian aid, provision of basic medical, social and educational services, forming a housing stock, integration of displaced persons into community life.
“Given that living in rural areas has recently become in demand among internally displaced persons, and the inflow of IDPs has not stopped, municipalities will likely need to expand and improve their efforts in this direction, so the experience of Nekhvoroshcha will be of interest to them,” said Balybina.
Having set up shelters and provided humanitarian aid, the municipality turned to looking for housing to accommodate people. This is how the idea of forming a housing stock was born.
“The housing stock is a database with a list of houses for which the municipality has acquired property rights by recognising them as deceased estates. There are many such houses in rural areas. They are registered and provided, as social or official housing, for the use of IDPs who have decided to stay with us,” said Deputy Head Olha Khomenko.
Another step in the work with IDPs was the development of the IDP Integration Programme. U-LEAD experts provided advisory support. The document provides a detailed analysis of the challenges and needs of IDPs that arise in connection with the war and the large-scale internal displacement of persons from dangerous territories.
According to the deputy head, the efforts undertaken helped the municipality to determine the needs of IDPs, and the obtained results are useful in planning strategic directions of work with IDPs:
“After conducting the survey, we realised what exactly it would take to fully integrate IDPs into our community life. Moreover, we have seen that we had professionals here that we were lacking before, so we are now employing these people: we have dentists, teachers, etc.”
The Integration Programme has already been adopted by the Village Council, and funds have been allocated for the needs of IDPs. Another joint initiative of U-LEAD experts and municipal officials was the introduction of changes to the School Food Programme. It now includes free meals for the displaced children, i.e. meals at the expense of the local budget.
The municipality is currently working on organising the process of providing medical services — equipping a new outpatient clinic. It is also seeking financing for the reconstruction of a block of flats to house IDPs.
“While in February 2022, a large number of IDPs was a challenge for our municipality, today it is our new normal, our life and our people, children. Hopefully, most of them will stay here, because people are the main resource for municipal development,” said Viktor Dubovych.
The training programme “Steps for Specialists. Organising Work with IDPs – 2023” is aimed at introducing the key approaches to the participating municipalities, clarifying the basic principles of work with IDPs and reviewing the elements of the organisation of work with them. Its objectives also include teaching how to build effective communication and create conditions for the successful integration of IDPs into the life of the municipality as well as developing the skills for establishing cooperation among all stakeholders.