Recovery of the Kherson Oblast is a complex and contentious issue, since the region as a whole cannot undergo comprehensive recovery at the moment due to Russia’s continuous shelling. Yet recovery is necessary.
To start with, recovery first requires funding. To help municipalities search for sources of funding, the DREAM Ecosystem comes in handy.
Ivanna Kuz, Adviser on Local Finance and Municipal Services of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Kherson Oblast, stated the following:
“Out of 49 local budgets, 18 municipalities of the Kherson region submitted 170 projects to the DREAM system. The estimated budget is UAH 2.74 billion, and financing in the amount of UAH 663.53 million has been confirmed. The financial coverage of projects is 24%.”
She cited the World Bank’s estimation that at least USD 411 billion will be needed for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. It will be extremely difficult to rebuild the regions of the country with our own resources, so our partners are coming to our help. Ukraine receives aid on fair terms of accountability, transparency and cost control. For this purpose, DREAM — Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management — was developed and implemented. It enables municipalities to submit their projects and present the stages of their implementation and results, and donors and the public can see where the funds are going.
Ivanna Kuz added that in terms of the number of submitted projects among the municipalities of the oblast, Vysokopillia (50 projects), Beryslav (30 projects) and Chornobaivka (20 projects) were in the lead.
The adviser also pointed out that the Kherson Oblast ranked only 7th in the rating of submitted projects to the system, even though the destruction suffered by Kherson Oblast might be the greatest.
“According to the survey among Kherson municipalities, only 37% of municipalities have registered in the ecosystem, and 63% are yet to do it. By delaying registration, they miss out on financial opportunities, which will only slow down the recovery process,” said Ivanna Kuz.