In the framework of the “EU4ResilientRegions – Special Assistance Programme Ukraine'' project, 45 communities have signed Memoranda of Cooperation with the German implementing company Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). With these new partners the project, which is co-financed by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), has grown to include 71 communities in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Donetsk (GCA) and Luhansk (GCA) regions. 

Communities will develop strategies for social, medical, and administrative institutions, which aim to improve the quality of the most important services to the population. 

“Reliable services in medical, administrative and social areas aim to strengthen the social cohesion in the communities and their resilience to hybrid threats. Participation in the project will improve the community's ability to cope with crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and to continue to attract investments into public services”, — Nadiya Vertebna, EU4ResilientRegions Programme Manager at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, said.

Through strategic planning the institutions will address the communities’ and citizens’ needs. As a second step, priority measures from the strategies will be implemented with the assistance of the EU and BMZ. Also, opportunities for sharing knowledge and experiences between communities about innovations and best practices will be promoted.

“Communities are facing challenges, such as insufficient digitalisation of institutions, communication problems between the community center and surrounding villages, the need for staff training, and lack of professional equipment. Our work with communities will aim to ensure that such challenges are addressed with specific measures”, — Margarete Jacobi, Head of Component at GIZ, said.

Alongside work on strategic measures the management and the staff of institutions and of the local administration will have the opportunity to improve their skills in specialized trainings provided by international and national experts.

Background

The project “EU4ResilientRegions - Special Assistance Programme Ukraine” is co-financed by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is part of a EUR 30 million EU action that aims to enhance Ukraine's resilience and contribute to strengthening its reform progress and country-wide societal cohesion. The project works with communities in 10 southern and eastern Ukrainian regions to make sure residents can access quality local administrative, medical, and social services comfortably and efficiently.