Just like every other municipality, Brovary has a diverse range of socially vulnerable groups of people, as well as residents who need certain types of social services. The financial support of defenders is obviously a special priority today, and various relevant local programmes are running in the municipality. However, the war creates new challenges and exacerbates many existing problems. There is also a demand for new social services.
“The effects of the ongoing war pose new challenges to us, including the demand for psychological help and socialisation and the need to be needed. We will overcome these challenges by joining local efforts with active, socially-oriented businesses,” said Ihor Sapozhko, Mayor of Brovary.
Not everything is about money, but money is important too
The municipality of Brovary has an extensive network of municipal institutions that provide social services. The Brovary City Territorial Centre for Social Services has a department of medical and social care and an inpatient ward.
The Medical and Social Care Department offers more than 20 services to residents of the municipality free of charge upon the referral of a family doctor. These are herbal teas, oxygen-enriched cocktails, NugaBest beds, a salt room, magnetotherapy, electrophoresis, an electrocardiogram machine, vapotherapy, ultrasound therapy, etc. Earlier, an inpatient ward with 10 beds was opened for lonely elderly people and socially vulnerable persons, and it is to be further scaled up. The cost of maintaining one person here is approximately UAH 22,000 per month.
The City Centre for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Children with Disabilities is another stand-alone facility that is serving 283 children, of which 30 have been internally displaced. The Centre has created conditions for the comprehensive development of children with disabilities and children under the age of three who are at risk of a disability. Its main goals include prevention, reduction or overcoming of physical and mental disorders, correction of developmental disorders, acquisition of new knowledge, abilities and skills by children, helping them achieve and maintain their independence as well as physical, mental and social abilities to the greatest extent. In addition to the Brovary municipality, the Centre also provides social services to children of the municipalities of Zazymia, Dymerka and Kalyta.
The municipality also introduced free cancer screening for residents, the costs of which are covered by the local budget.
In total, social expenditures of the general fund of the local budget amount to more than UAH 71,000,000.
Inclusivity is the way to cohesion and opening up to new realities
Another area of social protection that is being actively developed in the Brovary urban municipality is the creation of inclusive groups for the upbringing and education of children with special needs. Alongside operates the Inclusive Resource Centre of the Brovary City Council that conducts a comprehensive psychological and pedagogical assessment of children’s development, offers psychological, educational, correctional and developmental services and provides systematic and qualified support for children with special educational needs.
In addition, a new social service of special assistant teachers accompanying children with special educational needs in the inclusive education process is being introduced in the municipality.
“All our social protection actions have always been based on feedback from consumers or, in the case of children, from parents. Our municipality was one of the first, even before state support, to introduce a local Inclusivity Programme to integrate children into educational institutions. At the expense of the local budget, we are implementing programmes for the integration of autistic children into society; they started going to a regular school, where we had to overcome the opposition of other parents. We implement these and other measures within the scope of competence of local self-government bodies and as part of local programmes,” said Ihor Sapozhko.
Social non-governmental institutions are a way to solve complex problems
Along with the social municipal institutions, several private initiatives are successfully operating in the Brovary urban municipality, and the local self-government bodies support them as much as possible. After all, they provide municipality residents with social services.
For example, Perspective 21.3, a charity organisation that created the Occupational and Social Adaptation Centre of the same name in the Brovary municipality and provides conditions for a fulfilling and dignified life for people with autism, Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities. It offers services aimed at social and occupational adaptation, support and help at the workplace. In addition to studying, students make food for others, work in a café and pack bakery products in a municipality bakery. 24 people with intellectual disabilities, who are embarking on adulthood and future careers, are currently studying here.
Participants of the experience exchange event also visited SOS Children’s Village, which is also successfully operating in the municipality. The initiative is based on the site with 16 houses, 12 of which are occupied by families. Others are used to provide social services, such as the Family Strengthening Programme. Here they believe in the case management approach based on an individual assessment of the needs of families, including free psychological, social, educational, healthcare, household and informational services, support in getting a job/retraining, as well as financial assistance. The result of the programme is self-sufficiency for 70% of participating families.
Summarising the experience exchange event, Olena Ivanchenko, Head of the Regional Office of the U-LEAD with Europe Programme in the Kyiv Oblast, emphasised the importance of a comprehensive approach and partnerships with NGOs when providing social services:
“The urban municipality of Brovary presents an exemplary model of quality social services. This is an example of a comprehensive approach and systematic long-term work of both the head of the municipality and the expert team. Every year, with significant financial support from the local budget, numerous programmes are implemented to support socially vulnerable groups of the municipality’s population and those people who need support from local authorities. I am positively impressed by the ‘human face’ and empathy in this difficult task, and this approach yields great results.”
