The participants of the workshop shared their experience of cooperation with new residents over the previous 10 months. They also reflected and discussed what new and constructive can be planned for the next six months – together with the trainers Lyubov Ropalo (strategic planning mentor, consultant on local economic development) and Iryna Kuropas (expert on strengthening civic participation in democratic decision-making in Ukraine).
Here are some theses from the participants about the workshop’s achievements:
“Not all the help is in humanitarian aid. I was struck by the realisation that in order to adapt new people to the community, IDPs need to be given the opportunity to earn their own money. After all, work is a way not to live in expectation, but to feel needed. We do not fully understand the challenges and needs of IDPs. For adaptation to take place, and for new residents to feel like members of the community, people must be engaged in certain activities. We need to communicate more – to listen and hear, to establish communication with each other“, – Natalia Sekridova, “Parents’ Council of Kamianets-Podilskyi”, assistant to the deputy of the city council.
Why are such events for territorial communities needed?
“It is valuable that we were able to exchange experience. First of all, we saw that most communities have common problems. It was interesting to hear about the solutions in each territorial community. We learned new things, shared our experiences. This is important, because this way you can find common ground and continue to bring it to your community and develop new solutions,” – Natalia Andreychenko, head of the department of in-kind and cash assistance of the Unified Center for Rehabilitation and Social Services of Kolomyia.
Thank you for the productive work to all participants of the workshop! We promise to share our joint developments so that as many Ukrainian communities as possible can effectively interact and adapt internally displaced persons.
The component “Together at Home: Strong Community, Effective Adaptation of Internally Displaced Persons” is implemented within the framework of the “Stiyikist’” Programme implemented by the East Europe Foundation within a consortium of non-governmental 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.