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During the occupation, our Administrative Service Center, village council, and village offices were destroyed or severely damaged, and many documents were lost. After de-occupation, I realized that if our records had been digitized, we could have begun recovery and provided social services more quickly, even outside our community.
My staff is always open to innovation. When I became chair of the village council in 2011, my first initiative was to introduce Internet access, as I have always supported new advancements.
We began by creating a registry of damaged and destroyed property to launch e-Recovery. We then introduced participatory budgeting, the Svoi chatbot, and joined the DREAM program, which is essential for reconstruction. We have also implemented electronic document management and queue systems, and are using the SIDAR system to monitor humanitarian aid for residential infrastructure restoration.
My team is always willing to open their minds to new ideas. When I became chair of the village council in 2011, my first step was to provide Internet access, reflecting my commitment to innovation.
It was crucial to restore the Administrative Service Center, which had ceased operations following the occupation. With support from the Swiss-Ukrainian EGAP Program, implemented by East Europe Foundation, we were able to restore 100% of the administrative services at the Diia.Center of the Ivanivska community as early as the first half of 2023.
The program also enabled us to install a solar power plant at the ASC, ensuring energy independence. As a result, ASC services remain available at all times, regardless of power grid disruptions.
I believe digitalization simplifies life for everyone, including both young people and the elderly.
All these initiatives aim to make life as easy as possible for community residents and to make government services more accessible and transparent. I believe that digitalization is about making people’s lives easier — not just for young people, but for the elderly as well. Of course, not everyone will use all the services. But everyone uses at least one service.
For example, a suitcase-based mobile service unit provided to our ASC allows us to support those most in need. Our specialists regularly visit remote areas of the community, often assisting elderly residents whose homes have been damaged by the war. Since they cannot travel to the Administrative Service Center, our team visits them with the field service kit and helps complete paperwork for the eRecovery program.
The suitcase-based service kit is about human dignity. It’s about the fact that every community member, regardless of where they live or their condition, has the right to support and attention. And we will continue this work, because bringing services closer to people is our mission and our duty to the community.
As we continue to learn, our children are already growing up in a digital environment.
A new level of communication between the community and the Administrative Service Center helped create a smart call center. It automates call processing and enables rapid distribution of inquiries. Thanks to this, our specialists respond promptly to questions, provide consultations, and remind people about completed administrative services and ready documents. In turn, people can receive an automated response regarding the Center’s hours of operation and the required documents for a specific service.
This creates transparency, clarity, and predictability in communication. People feel that they are being heard, that their request isn’t getting lost, and that the response isn’t delayed. And that is precisely what builds trust. When a resident calls the ASC and knows they will receive a professional response, that they will be spoken to politely, and that their question won’t be lost — a completely different level of relationship forms between the government and citizens.
We also aim to install video cameras in social service facilities and public spaces, with footage transmitted to a central server managed by the community police officer. This large-scale safety project relies on digitalization.
We also plan to digitize all community documents to establish a digital archive.
Although reading has declined in our community, we chose to keep the libraries open. Thanks to the EGAP Program, our central library director became a digital ambassador, traveling monthly to remote villages to teach digital literacy to older adults. Residents are pleased to see Oksana Vasylivna, and participants learn to pay for utilities, use e-prescriptions, and navigate online resources.
Digitalization makes technology accessible, understandable, and practical.
As we continue to learn, our children are growing up in a digital environment. Students at Anysiv Lyceum now have access to a robotics class through the EGAP Program, allowing them to create and engage with technology directly. For many, this is their first opportunity to work with modern technologies, see immediate results, and feel empowered as creators rather than just consumers.
This is important, as these children may remain in the community, join the local government, and implement their ideas.
We are a smart community that has grown stronger through adversity and remains committed to continuous improvement.
I envision our community in the coming years as successful and thriving, where everyone enjoys opportunities, comfortable living conditions, and a high quality of life.
We are a smart community that has grown stronger through adversity and remains committed to continuous improvement. We will keep evolving, learning, and adopting new tools to enhance the quality of life for all.