On July 13-14, a strategic session was held in Vinnytsia for the Coordination Center for Civilian Support of Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration. The purpose of the meeting was to develop both a strategic plan for community work with internally displaced persons and a program to support IDPs. The event was held at the Frantsiya Hotel (34 Soborna Street).
At the beginning of the meeting, Natalia Zabolotna, First Deputy Head of Vinnytsia RMA, welcomed the participants. Ms. Zabolotna emphasized that the development of such a strategy is an important step towards the integration of internally displaced persons into local communities.
Creation of strategically important documents was aided by the representatives of the structural units of the RMAs, DMAs, territorial communities and the public — including the Department of Social and Youth Policy, the Department of Humanitarian Policy, the Department of Health and Rehabilitation, the Department of Education, the Department of Finance, the Department of Territorial and Infrastructure Development, the Children Care Service, the Department for Nationalities and Religions, and the Main Department of the National Social Service in Vinnytsia region. In addition, there were representatives of the Head Office of the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the Regional Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Vinnytsia region, the Regional Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid in Vinnytsia region, Vinnytsia Regional Center for Social Services, Vinnytsia Regional Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support, Vinnytsia Regional Employment Center, Tulchyn, Haisyn, Khmilnyk, Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, and Mohyliv-Podilskyi RMAs, Zhmerynka, Kalynivka, Khmilnyk, Stryzhavka, and Ladyzhyn city councils.
The event was facilitated by two experienced trainers — Anastasia Serbina and Lyudmyla Hrytsenko.
Here’s what the participants did in the course of strategizing:
- identified problems and set goals using the SMART technique;
- worked in a brainstorming format;
- identified political, economic, social and technological aspects of the external environment that affect local policy on the internal environment (using PEST analysis);
- developed policy directions for IDPs: adaptation, integration, and reintegration;
- analyzed risks and security, learned to assess impact and measure indicators;
- developed a policy strategy on internal displacement for the specified period, approved an operational plan for its implementation, etc.
The event was emotional, productive, discussive, and, most importantly, focused on prioritizing IDPs’ rights. The friendly atmosphere of the meeting was conducive to the birth of the best ideas. All the participants were actively involved in the work, hardworking, persistent and sincere.
At the end of the two-day joint activity, the event team achieved its goal. Everyone who participated in the session said that they were exhausted, but satisfied with the work and its results. The next step after the fruitful cooperation is to analyze the materials that will be included in the final versions of the documents.
The event was organized by the Vinnytsia regional team of the Stabilization Support Services Charity Foundation within the framework of the project “Supporting the capacity of the social protection system to register internally displaced persons”, funded by the UN Refugee Agency in Ukraine.
