Not only the government, but also the public sector should be involved in solving housing and other problems of the displaced persons: activists working with IDPs know their needs better, can properly formulate and communicate them to the authorities.
However, activists must know how to identify social problems and turn them into concrete actions. This is exactly the subject of the cycle of trainings, conducted by our Foundation as part of a project implemented together with the Norwegian Refugee Council and with the financial support of the European Union. We have already held two educational events in Dnipropetrovska and Kyivska oblasts, aiming to teach IDP Councils’ members and initiative groups to formulate IDPs housing policies.
First of all, the training participants learned what the policy cycle is and what its main stages are.
“You have certain social problem: for example, IDPs’ access to housing. You analyze it, formulate it, put it on the agenda, and then determine options for solving it, – explains Anton Krasov, legal expert of our Foundation. — Next, you choose one of the options and implement the appropriate policy, that is, you take specific measures. In the case of authorities, it can be the adoption of relevant laws, the budget, etc. If the policy proved to be effective, it is continued, if not, an alternative solution to the problem is chosen. This is the cycle of politics that we introduced to the participants of our trainings.”
The representatives of IDP Councils and initiative groups also performed practical tasks. They formulated and described a pressing problem related to the issue of providing housing for IDPs in their region. For example, in Kyivska oblast it was the procedure of allocating the displaced persons in compact settlement places and forming a housing provision waiting list under the regional program “New Housing”. The participants analyzed all the stakeholders of these processes and determined how to interact with each of them.
In the following trainings, activists will learn how to create local advocacy tools, identify specific steps and indicators, implement them, and create “road maps” for IDPs.
This publication was developed with the assistance of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) with the financial support of the European Union. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the Charity Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” and does not in any way reflect the official views of the European Union and the Norwegian Refugee Council.