The info session “Overview of Projects and Activities of Joint Emergency Response in Ukraine (JERU) in Municipalities of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast” was held on March 6 in the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The organisation’s team talked about their activities and new opportunities for cooperation with the municipalities of the oblast.
“In 2022, U-LEAD helped several Khmelnytskyi municipalities develop local programmes for the integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs). We are delighted to learn that according to JERU, cooperation with these municipalities has been the most organised and effective. That is why dialogue is so important not only between municipalities and individual programmes, foundations and, projects, but also directly between organisations working towards the development of municipalities,” said Dmytro Vasylenko, Head of this Regional Office.
Participants learned about the activities of JERU in municipalities of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast in 2022 and 2023, including in-kind and financial aid, psychosocial support and providing IDPs with essentials.
Olena Rutkovska, Deputy Chief — Programmes & Operations at JERU, spoke about the implementation of the project “Supporting the Recovery of Social and Financial Stability of Municipalities Affected by the War in the Eastern and Western Regions of Ukraine”. It aims to increase the resilience of the war-affected population of Ukraine by expanding their access to employment market systems and services, as well as facilitating the access of people in rural areas to business development and strengthening the potential of the employment market.
“The aid that humanitarian actors provide for Ukrainians affected by the war and hostilities is now being transformed from emergency in-kind (material) aid to the assistance aimed at restoration or creation of means of livelihood, development, etc. And our project will work towards this as well,” she said.
Firstly, the employment market system is to be strengthened once this is implemented with the help of public outreach and the creation of social partnerships. Secondly, job seekers will have fair access to employment with skills in demand in the employment market. Thirdly, financial and consulting services offered to micro, small and medium-sized businesses will strengthen entrepreneurship.
In the Khmelnytskyi Oblast alone, the project is to finance the training of 20 persons, organise paid internships for 20 persons at enterprises and provide grants of up to EUR 1500 for micro-businesses and up to EUR 20,000 for small and medium-sized businesses.
“We are open to dialogue and strive to work with the municipalities hosting potential participants of the project. Contact us, and we will look for opportunities for development together,” said Ms Rutkovska.
Olha Korshuk, Project and Programme Expert at JERU, spoke about the cases such as offering a grant to a relocated business from Kharkiv and the opening of a small marshmallow workshop. These and other projects supported by JERU are aimed at creating jobs, expanding production capacities, supporting entrepreneurs, etc. Furthermore, the participants received mentor support and strengthened their professional, communication and leadership skills. In addition, various meetings and job fairs have been held for job seekers and employers, boosting an effective recruitment process for both employers and job seekers.
Andrii Zakharko of the Stara Ushytsia municipality shared his thoughts on the recruitment and employment of IDPs in rural municipalities:
"In our municipality, IDPs are mostly women with children. So the biggest problem with employment is the lack of kindergartens, as they have no childcare options. The second issue is that the job may be in another village, and there are no public transport options with a convenient traffic schedule to get there. Once these two problems are solved, we can talk about employment.”