Ukrainian Resilience Week 2025 has begun in Lviv – an annual event that brings together representatives of state authorities, local self-government, experts and international partners to strengthen the resilience of Ukrainian communities.

The first day of the forum began with a roundtable discussion entitled ‘Building National Resilience: The Role of Local Self-Government’, held in the Grand Session Hall of the Lviv City Council. Representatives from central government bodies, expert organisations and Ukrainian city councils participated in the discussion.

Participants at the roundtable discussed the action plan for implementing the Concept of Ensuring National Resilience, which was adopted by decree of the President in 2021. The document defines national resilience as the ability of the state and society to withstand any kind of threat, adapt to change, and recover quickly from crises.

Iryna Maistrenko, State Expert at the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, emphasised the importance of developing proposals for the new Action Plan for 2026.

The importance of the principle of subsidiarity, embedded in the decentralisation reform, was emphasised as a separate point. Maksym Terletskyi, Head of the City Institute, noted: ‘For local self-government to be resilient, it is important not to lose the results of decentralisation, which has already strengthened communities’ ability to respond to challenges. The Action Plan must provide for the continuation of this reform.’

During the second part of the roundtable discussion, leading expert institutions – the Rating Sociological Group, the National Institute for Strategic Studies, and the International Solidarity Fund – presented their findings on resilience.

Yaroslav Zhalilo, Deputy Director of the NISS, emphasised, ‘The basis of national resilience is a resilient community that is united, attractive to live in, economically viable, and capable of effective self-government. This broadens the circle of stakeholders, encompassing everyone from public authorities to businesses, civil society and other actors.’

Ukrainian Resilience Week 2025 will run until 2 October and include a local self-government forum and a series of workshops and panel discussions. It is expected that the results of the Week will be used to develop proposals for the state action plan for 2026.

The event is organised by the City Institute in cooperation with the Lviv City Council, with the support of the project ‘Strengthening of Urban Resilience in the Areas of Supply Infrastructure and Housing in Ukraine (SUR)’ which is a part of the German transitional development assistance, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.