Two social projects were launched in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast in March. They include activities aimed at the rehabilitation of military personnel, patriotic education of young pфeople and the creation of the Steel Magnolias Entrepreneurship and Mental Resilience Centre.
Bakototherapy in Stara Ushytsia
The project “Veterans and Youth: Towards the Future Together” in the Stara Ushytsia municipality is implemented by Territoria, a Kharkiv-based regional youth non-governmental organisation. A number of rehabilitation activities for military personnel and veterans — bakototherapy — and a series of patriotic activities for the youth of the municipalities of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast are being implemented as part of the initiative.
Bakototherapy is a free five-day programme for veterans and military personnel, which will include hikes and guided tours in the forests of Podilski Tovtry and the slopes of the Dniester Canyon, exploring culture and cuisine of the region, art therapy, standup paddling in the Dniester River and many other psychological rehabilitation activities.
According to the head of the project, Alina Oliinyk, the initiative was created in response to the wartime challenges:
“War wears down on everyone, but it is the hardest on our military who have been defending Ukraine non-stop for more than two years of the full-scale war, and some since 2014. Moreover, there is currently a problem with the outflow of young people who leave to study and work abroad. Our NGO has the Bakota Hub, a space on the slopes of the Dniester Canyon where you can rehabilitate and study. We engage youth in patriotic camps and offer the natural resources and peaceful environment of Bakota to help with the recovery of veterans and military personnel who need it.”
According to Alina Oliinyk, the financing of the initiative was fully taken over by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme. The money was allocated for the arrangement of the campsites, as well as the organisation and support of 8 camps for a total of 160 people.
The organisers are currently preparing the campsites — ensuring greater accessibility — and developing the programme.
“We expect that the camps will help participating veterans and military personnel to increase their psychological resilience and regain their strength through bakototherapy. And young people will learn more about the history of the region, raise their national conscience and improve their fitness. Of course, this will also bring them closer, uniting them into a network of like-minded people,” said Alina Oliinyk.
The NGO posts updates about the project on the Bakota Hub’s Facebook page. There you can find the schedule of military and youth camps.
“Steel magnolias” bloom in Shepetivka
The Shepetivka municipality decided to brand itself as the “City of Flowers” back in 2022. Back then, although the “green brigades” started working again, the municipal landscaping company lacked funding for all the plans and initiatives. That is why they decided to create the Steel Magnolias Entrepreneurship and Mental Resilience Centre. This project is implemented by the ASTAR Sustainable Development Agency NGO with the assistance of the Shepetivka City Council and the support of U-LEAD with Europe.
The full-scale invasion brought more than 15,000 internally displaced people from areas affected by hostilities and shelling to the municipality. Of them, almost 1400 women remained in the municipality, and they need employment, professional retraining and psychological rehabilitation. Another category that needs rehabilitation is the families of those who defend Ukraine from the enemy. There are more than 5000 of them in the Shepetivka municipality.
According to the organisers of the project, its goal is to develop entrepreneurial skills and support the mental resilience of the participants of the Steel Magnolias Centre, to increase the competitiveness of the Shepetivka-based repair and maintenance company through capacity-building by the company’s employees.
March and April saw the preparatory work in the municipality; participants were selected and introduced themselves. Two greenhouses for growing flowers will start operating on the basis of the municipal company as early as in the next months. The participants and organisers of the project will prepare the City of Flowers Road Map 2030 to develop this direction in the Shepetivka municipality.
“During the implementation of the project, 40 women from among IDPs, military wives and employees of the municipal company will undergo comprehensive training in growing flowers and gardening. The women will be able to use their new skills by working in the municipal company or starting their own business. They will also undergo psychological rehabilitation to improve their mental resilience,” stated the ASTAR Agency for Sustainable Development.
Dmytro Vasylenko, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast, offered his comments:
“U-LEAD’s main objective is to increase the capacity of local self-government and facilitate municipal development. However, responding to the challenges of the war, we chose to finance projects with a social component that simultaneously lay the groundwork for the further development of municipalities in these directions. In fact, for the second year in a row, the Stara Ushytsia municipality has been developing the direction of rehabilitation tourism, and given the challenges of post-war recovery and the local potential, it can become a driver of municipal development. Similarly, the project to grow flowers in greenhouses in the Shepetivka municipality is based on rebooting the existing experience and the relevant needs of the territory.”