Municipal officials of the Kharkiv Oblast discussed “Utilising U-LEAD’s International Technical Assistance to Strengthen the Resilience of Recovering Municipalities” at the event hosted by the local Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe. Given the security situation in the region, the discussions took place at the Slobozhanske settlement municipality. The event brought together representatives of 20 municipalities of the Kharkiv Oblast that received U-LEAD’s humanitarian and international technical assistance (ITA). This was stated by the head of the Office, Maryna Honcharenko.
During the meeting, she emphasised that since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, U-LEAD has been actively supporting municipalities of the Kharkiv Oblast. In 2022, as humanitarian aid, 30 municipalities in the oblast received “Shelter” packages (tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, blankets, non-potable water tanks, generators, basic backpacks for IDPs, etc.), 17 municipalities got “Repair” packages (generators, wheel loaders, gas cutters, cutting wheels, chainsaws and cutting chains) and 31 municipalities were provided with “Light” packages (generators and lighting poles).
In 2023, 17 municipalities that suffered the most extensive destruction in the oblast received ITA, including tool kits and 42 vehicles.
“This assistance was intended to bolster the resilience of these municipalities at a difficult stage of their functioning after de-occupation and in the realities of the war and constant shelling, to enable a prompt emergency response, to prop up critical infrastructure, to help create conditions for the reception and accommodation of evacuees and IDPs and to introduce measures to restore damaged municipal property,” said Maryna Honcharenko.
In his welcoming speech, Dmytro Dikhtiar, head of the Slobozhanske village, stated that the technical assistance received from the U-LEAD Programme was already being actively used in the municipality, but great hopes were pinned on the received vehicles, given the urgent need to create two new heat supply utility companies.
Anatolii Nazdrachov, a village head from the Donetsk Oblast, also presented his experience of using U-LEAD assistance in the municipality and noted that this type of sharing experiences and insights with other municipalities was an important component in improving the performance of local self-government:
“Events like this one allow us to learn about best practices, discuss challenges and work out solutions to current problems together. Joining forces helps all municipalities become stronger and better prepared for today’s challenges.”
Oksana Suprun, head of the Savyntsi Village Military Administration, spoke about Savyntsi’s experience in receiving technical assistance:
“With this great opportunity to present the Savyntsi municipality’s experience, I would like to thank the incredible U-LEAD team for their constant expert support and technical assistance: a Citroen for the Savyntsi Housing and Utility Company, two minivans (for the Savyntsi Village Council and the Social Services Centre) and tool kits for our utility company.”
Svitlana Alioshyna, deputy head of the village of Novopokrovka, also extended her gratitude to the U-LEAD with Europe Programme for the logistical assistance. According to her, this assistance has been of great help to the municipality, given its circumstances (it has accepted over 15,000 IDPs). As was shared by Ms Alioshyna, vehicles are currently actively used in two key areas: supporting and promoting youth development (she remarked on the municipality’s active and strong Youth Council) and as social transport.
The heads of the de-occupied municipalities of Balakliia and Velykyi Burluk, Vitalii Karabanov and Viktor Tereshchenko, spoke passionately about the importance of the assistance received from U-LEAD. According to them, in the situation when the municipalities were left with nothing following the de-occupation — neither vehicles, nor any tools or equipment — this assistance has been an invaluable treasure.
Senior officials of the Chuhuiv, Lozova, Krasnohrad, Barvinkove and Dvorichna municipalities also underlined the role of U-LEAD assistance in the recovery of territories, as well as the importance of the training and advisory components of the Programme, in their speeches.
At the end of the event, Maryna Honcharenko reminded those present of the procedure to implement an ITA or humanitarian aid project by a municipality, while Tetiana Filatova, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government of the local Regional Office, spoke about the existing training components that U-LEAD with Europe offers to local self-government officials.
