The opportunities for supporting IDPs, their employment and protection of displaced businesses were discussed in Chernivtsi. The United Voices in Action program held the regional forum “Together we will succeed: efforts of communities and IDPs for the development of the region“. 

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the smallest region in Ukraine, the Chernivetska Oblast, has accepted approximately 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). Some of them have left, while more than 80,000 IDPs have decided to stay in the oblast. However, according to Aliona Atamaniuk, deputy head of the Chernivetska Oblast Military Administration, the actual number of IDPs is much higher than the number of those officially registered.

“Today, the oblast state administration, oblast council, city council, and all territorial communities consider IDPs as an opportunity for the Chernivetska Oblast and Ukraine as a whole. It is important that IDPs stay on the territory of Ukraine, do not leave its borders, but adapt and integrate into the life of our region.”

Helping IDP children is among the priorities of the local authorities, said Mykhailo Pavliuk, deputy head of the Chernivetska Oblast Council. Every child in the region is provided with proper support and education. The forum participants also drew attention to the need to evacuate children from dangerous areas.

One of the key topics of discussion was employment and support for displaced businesses. According to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s European Integration, professionals who have relocated to other regions hold a significant amount of talent: 

“The flow of IDPs is a great challenge, but it is also an opportunity. It is necessary to respond as effectively as possible to the needs of IDPs and to the integration of IDPs into communities in other regions… I am convinced that people who have come to Bukovyna [Chernivetska Oblast] (as well as to other regions) are valuable professionals who will help overcome a shortage of personnel.”

An important tool in the cooperation between the government, community and business is the work of the Coordination Council on IDPs under the Executive Committee of the Chernivtsi City Council. According to Tetiana Sihayeva, regional coordinator of the United Voices in Action program in the Chernivetska Oblast, the IDP Council should develop sustainable systemic solutions to support people who are building a new life in the Chernivetska Oblast: 

“The authorities are now focusing on meeting basic needs. In the Chernivetska Oblast, there seems to be little awareness that many IDPs will ‘settle’ here forever. Therefore, we should now focus not on rapid support, but on planning an extended phase of integration of IDPs in the communities.”

The participants of the event signed a resolution to participate in the development and approval of an updated IDP strategy. They also asked the officials to create structural units in local self-governments for social protection of IDPs, to develop a framework for working with IDPs at the regional level, and to expand the network of IDP councils in the Oblast. 

The event is conducted in the frames of the United Voices in Action program implemented by IREX in Ukraine together with the Charity Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” and with the support of the U.S. Department of State.