Guide for Communities on IDPs Integration prepared with EU support. According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, about 4.9 million Ukrainians have become internally displaced persons. To support IDP host communities, East Europe Foundation, with the support of the French NGO ERIM and the European Union, has released a free Guide for Communities on IDPs Integration.

This Guide is intended to help local authorities better understand the challenges and opportunities that come with changes in community composition. It suggests methods and tools to identify needs of various groups, to operate different data sources in order to collect, verify and analyse information.

“Since the outbreak of Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine over a year ago, Ukraine has suffered many losses and has been faced with many challenges. One of them is people that were forcibly displaced within Ukraine and abroad over such a short time. Almost five million Ukrainians are now continuing to adapt to their new communities within the country. The EU is supporting Ukraine, among other things, to help local communities integrate new residents, cope with challenges, remain resilient and continue to advance even during the wartime,” said Julia Jacoby, Sector Manager for Civil Society at the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

The guide also talks about:

• The need to create sustainable IDP support programmes;
• Effective ways for local authorities to communicate with new residents;
• Building successful partnerships between communities to support and integrate IDPs.

“Ukrainians continue to move from the frontline areas affected by the hostilities to new, safer places. Concerns and challenges related to their forced displacement are there and will still be there for a long time. Solving or coming close to solving at least some of the problems requires effective solutions. This guide is intended to help communities establish interaction with new residents and understand their needs in an accessible and visual format, search for and implement support programs and partners, and thus contribute to the development and restoration of communities,” said Natalia Slynko, Program Director, East Europe Foundation.

The publication will prove useful for both IDP host communities and their original communities that are already taking care of IDPs return to liberated cities and villages; local military and civil administrations; nongovernmental organisations, including relocated ones, and everyone who cares about integration of internally displaced persons in Ukraine and community restoration and development.

The Guide on Integration of Internally Displaced Persons in Local Communities was created under the Stiykist’ Program, which is implemented by East Europe Foundation within a consortium of nongovernmental organisations led by ERIM (Equal Rights and Independent Media, France) in partnership with Human Rights House Foundation, Human Rights House Tbilisi, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, and funded by the European Union. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the team of authors: Iryna Kuropas, Lyubov Ropalo, Anatoliy Tkachuk, and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union, East Europe Foundation and the consortium partner organisations. The Guide is distributed for free.