East Europe Foundation, within the framework of the EU-funded “Stiyikist” Programme, presents sixteen winning communities to participate in the training component “Home Together: Resistant Community, Effective IDPs Adaptations”.

According to the results of processing the applications, 16 communities were selected among the 78 submitted applications. Here is the list of winners:

• Rohatyn urban territorial community of Ivano-Frankivsk region
• Kolomyia urban territorial community of Ivano-Frankivsk region
• Bohorodchany village territorial community of Ivano-Frankivsk region
• Chortkiv urban territorial community of Ternopil region
• Kamianets-Podilskyi urban territorial community of Khmelnytskyi region
• Stryi urban territorial community of Lviv region
• Turka urban territorial community of Lviv region
• Pustomyty territorial community of Lviv region
• Novorozdil territorial community of Lviv region
• Krasne territorial community of Lviv region
• Uman urban territorial community of Cherkasy region
• Monastyryshche urban territorial community of Cherkasy region
• Kaniv urban territorial community of Cherkasy region
• Lubny urban territorial community of Poltava region
• Myrhorod urban territorial community of Poltava region
• Horol urban territorial community of Poltava region

Within the component, the selected communities will receive expert support and research of community needs, workshops, development of practical materials. All this is to strengthen the interaction between local authorities, IDPs and CSOs, including relocated ones.

“Due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, millions of Ukrainians are forced to continue to change their place of residence and work. We support the communities that host internally displaced persons, to enable them to develop effective ways to overcome the challenges they face. And also – to help people and displaced civil society organisations that want to adapt in these communities,” commented Sinziana Poiana, Programme Officer for Civil Society Support of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

It is planned to conduct a series of one- and two-day workshops, focus group studies, which will involve representatives of the local authorities, civil society and internally displaced persons. The events will be facilitated by Liubov Ropalo, trainer, strategic planning mentor, consultant on local economic development, and Iryna Kuropas, expert on strengthening civic participation in democratic decision-making processes in Ukraine, certified trainer on EU-project cycle management.

“The training activities and developed materials will strengthen the capacity of communities that are hosting IDPs, help them find their own set of tools and integration mechanisms based on the capabilities and needs of a particular community. Further, we plan to scale up these developments to help communities and IDPs, in particular relocated CSOs, to understand each other and interact effectively,” added Natalia Slynko, Program Director of East Europe Foundation.

With the results of the training component, it is planned to create a free course on the educational online platform “Zrozumilo!”, which will be useful for all communities of Ukraine that are hosting IDPs.

The Stiykist’ Programme is implemented by East Europe Foundation within the framework of a consortium of civil society organisations led by ERIM (France) in partnership with the Human Rights House Foundation, Human Rights House Tbilisi, the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, and funded by the European Union. The Programme runs from June 2022 to May 2023.