The United Voices in Action program organized a regional forum titled “Integration of IDPs in Kirovohradska Oblast: Problems, Solutions and the Role of the IDP Council” in Kropyvnytskyi to aid internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Representatives from government bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and businesses joined hands with IDPs to discuss topics such as job search assistance, support for adaptation, and comfortable integration into their new communities.
Kateryna Koltunova, the deputy head of the Kirovohradska Oblast Military Administration, stated that since the full-scale invasion began, roughly 174,000 IDPs have passed through the Kirovohradska Oblast, and as of March, more than 86,000 IDPs are registered in the region. She emphasized the need to integrate these individuals into the Oblast’s life to the fullest extent possible.
Kateryna Koltunova
Since May, at the level of the deputy corps, we have been discussing the involvement of IDPs in such coordination councils and meetings where the issues of their life in our community are resolved,” Koltunova stated. “In addition, we are intensifying the youth policy in the region. IDPs can become an active community and immediately become involved in their communities.
According to Serhiy Larionov, the coordinator of the United Voices in Action program, organizing the lives of IDPs requires maximum synergy and communication at all levels. While each community and region may have its own unique context, the primary issues are universal and shared.
Serhiy Larionov
This includes finding a job, housing, healthcare, education, etc. It is necessary to develop systemic solutions. One of the options for developing such solutions is IDP Councils. Now the Kirovohradska Oblast will also be able to join this successful experience,” Larionov said.
IDP Councils are already operating in the Ternopilska and Dnipropetrovska oblasts, in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Uzhhorod, Poltava, Chernivtsi, Kyiv, and other communities.
IDPs themselves also highlight the benefits of the initiative. An IDP since 2014, Valentyna Chuhuyevets, head of the NGO “Center for Public Activity “Peremoha”, says:
Valentyna Chuhuyevets
I am from the Luhanska Oblast. When I first came to the Kirovohradska Oblast, to Oleksandriya, I immediately saw the prospects and opportunities of the region. We just need to unite and educate people. All these are steps towards social entrepreneurship. Thanks to the IDP Council, we, as community members, will be able to interact faster and obtain the necessary information.
More than 30 forum participants signed a resolution that, among other things, supports the idea of creating an IDP Council in the Kirovogradska Oblast. The initiative group that will establish the Council will include active members of the public and IDPs.
The event was made possible through the United Voices in Action program, implemented by IREX in Ukraine in collaboration with the Charity Foundation Stabilization Support Services and with the backing of the U.S. Department of State.