On the banks of the Southern Bug near the village of Chudynivtsi, the municipality placed several tents, set up a recreation and living area, and repaired access roads for people who fled the occupation.
This was made possible thanks to U-LEAD, which provided the municipality with an aid package that included tents, beds, sleeping bags, household equipment and a lighting station. Mykola Yurchyshyn, Mayor of Khmilnyk, suggested, rather than scattering this aid, creating a recreation area. Today it will operate for the IDPs, and in the future, it will be available for all residents of the municipality.
According to Serhii Redchyk, deputy head of the municipality, there are already several tents and up to 50 people at the moment. The official stated that the U-LEAD project helped the municipality comprehensively tackle the issue of recreation development. He said:
U-LEAD’s assistance facilitated the implementation of this project. We first built one tent and equipped living areas. Then we began to build all the necessary infrastructure. We are planning to create a recreation area for the students of our schools, who will be able to rest and improve their health here from May to September. So today we are turning these temporary initiatives into permanent facilities.
Such projects allow displaced people to settle in a new place and find housing and work, explains Vitalii Shvets, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Vinnytsia region:
In the Khmilnyk municipality, this project was a smashing success. It helped the municipality to quickly create a new location for the temporary stay of IDPs and boosted the development of recreational infrastructure. The head of the municipality, their deputies, starostas, workers of utility companies quickly built this tent town together with the people.
Thanks to the efforts of the U-LEAD donor countries, in the period from April to June 2022, 333 Ukrainian municipalities that suffered destruction or received a significant part of internally displaced persons due to war received emergency aid packages "Light", "Shelter" and "Repair" - depending on the specific local needs.