The team of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Donetsk Oblast held a meeting for local municipalities to raise awareness about best practices when creating hubs and support centres for the population. The meeting took place in the Soledar Citizen Support Centre.
“I can confidently say that this event was useful for all of us. In addition to facilitating the discussion, the meeting allowed taking a close look at examples of successful management decisions. Our experts will continue to explore the creation of Citizen Support Centres in order to provide assistance and guidance on how to establish and arrange them better,” said Victoriia Trotsenko, Head of this Regional Office of U-LEAD.
The senior officials of the Soledar municipality and team of the Centre talked about its creation and the activities of municipal institutions featured there and showed off the premises.
“In 2023, our municipality opened a hub in Dnipro, then in Kyiv. Today, there are also Centres in Cherkasy and Kryvyi Rih. We talked about the procedure for creating Centres, renting premises, adopting a proper programme for financing and other aspects. Another valuable aspect of the meeting was a chance to exchange important contacts regarding the evacuation of residents, their accommodation or the provision of humanitarian assistance. This format of meetings and activities is very useful for municipalities,” said Svitlana Loshchakova, Deputy Head of the Soledar City Military Administration.
According to her, the Soledar Citizen Support Centre in Dnipro offers an educational space, hosts the relocated Administrative Services Centre and provides social protection services. An inclusive resource centre operates in the educational space, offering children consultations with a speech therapist and a psychologist, as well as other classes. Since 2023, the Centre has had a sensory room set up at the expense of grant funds. The Centre also offers a venue for the senior citizens to gather, communicate and relax.
“Municipalities that create Support Centres are not always aware of the exact steps they need to take. We are ready to actively help them, and their residents can receive certain services in our hub right now. We welcome children and the elderly from different municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast, helping and providing support to all of them. We’ve already managed to adapt to new challenges and work format, so we can share our experience and advice with others,” said Svitlana Loshchakova.
The event focused on a number of other urgent issues for the municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast. Evacuation, which is challenging to organise under constant shelling, is a hotspot for some settlements.
“We discussed the reduction of humanitarian aid for internally displaced persons, which is worrisome for many. Our team provided some examples of grants and other initiatives that would allow us to attract additional resources and funds to assist IDPs. Municipalities affected by active hostilities have difficulties registering residents to receive compensation for destroyed property. The problem is that in order to register documents, you need to have reports issued on-site by local self-government employees. Shelling and hostilities make it very difficult and dangerous to conduct these examinations. Hence, people lose time, and the authorities lack clear guidance on how to act in situations like that,” said Victoriia Trotsenko.
The participants of the meeting learned about the training programmes and initiatives offered by the U-LEAD Programme. It was reaffirmed that U-LEAD experts work in many directions and are ready to provide their support to the municipalities of the Donetsk Oblast.
“These meetings are crucial, especially with regard to the creation of Support Centres. A large portion of our population has moved to other regions of Ukraine, which poses new problems and challenges for them. They lost not only their homes, but also their support networks. In their new places, everything is new as well: jobs, colleagues, friends, housing. People often have no idea where to go to solve any given problem. Citizen Support Centres can become a place to receive administrative and social services, a space for meetups and recreation. Communication with colleagues, sharing experiences and advice are very essential for us. We were able to learn a lot of information that we will use to support the people of our municipality. After the victory, we will rebuild our municipalities, develop the economy and bring people back home. For that, we will need additional guidance and consulting support,” said Nataliia Kyrychenko, Chief of Administration of the Executive Committee of the Novohrodivka City Council.