U-LEAD experts have developed a new Support Programme “Implementing a Model of Supporting War Veterans and Their Families in the Municipality”. Representatives of 10 municipalities from all over Ukraine joined the initiative.
As was stated by Valerii Mikulich, Head of the Social Well-Being Working Group and Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government of U-LEAD with Europe in the Zhytomyr Oblast:
“Having studied requests from municipalities, our Working Group has developed a training course that will be practical and useful for local self-government employees. As men and women who defended our country are returning to municipalities, working with them and providing them with quality services are becoming a priority at the state and local self-government levels. We’ve had a huge competition for this Programme, which is designed to help municipalities implement effective model solutions to support war veterans and their families. We do hope that participating municipalities will receive the necessary information and tools for sustainable development and strengthening their capacity to support veterans.”
The goal of the support programme is to build up the professional competence of local self-government officials in implementing model municipal solutions for the creation and functioning of institutions that will strengthen the capacity of municipalities to support war veterans and their families.
Oksana Shvets, Adviser on Municipal Finance and Management at the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, emphasised:
“This year, U-LEAD with Europe has already held a series of events on veteran policy. There we saw that local self-government bodies do not always understand the mechanisms and formats of working with veterans. Municipal officials should be well-versed in the powers of local self-government when it comes to supporting veterans and their families as well as models of their implementation.”
According to her, in November through January, participants will attend four seminars and four training sessions and receive expert advice.
At all these stages of the Support Programme, municipal officials will be supported by U-LEAD experts such as Dmytro Prokopets, Nataliia Balaniuk, Mykola Volchetskyi, Oksana Shvets and Nataliia Zaitseva.
The first seminar focused on the powers of local self-government bodies in supporting war veterans and their families.
Nataliia Balaniuk, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government at the Regional Office of U-LEAD in the Mykolaiv Oblast, stated:
“In Ukraine, laws and regulations are being actively adopted to implement the veteran support reform at the legislative level. This approach involves ensuring compliance with the rights of war veterans and developing a system of their social protection, medical care, psychological rehabilitation, social and professional adaptation, as well as dignified commemoration and formation of the image of a veteran in society. This means that municipalities are already working in this direction, but their efforts must be structured and streamlined.”
The expert presented the participants with the legal framework that regulates the veteran employment and support. The levels of the veteran support system were further discussed in detail, with an emphasis on the role of local self-government.
According to Oksana Shvets, local self-government bodies are empowered to establish social protections in addition to those established by law.
“The legislation also defines other powers of local self-government bodies regarding veterans, which include providing assistance in building houses, major repairs, purchasing building materials or allocating land plots. This also applies to improving the housing, infrastructure and living conditions of war veterans and providing financial support to veteran organisations,” the speaker explained.
In general, the powers of local self-government bodies in veteran policy cover a number of areas, including social protection, rehabilitation, psychological support, employment and information support.
“Organising support for veterans at the local level facilitates the development of effective mechanisms for working with them, since municipalities know their veterans and better understand their needs. Locally, veterans and their families have faster access to the services they need first. Municipalities should work with veterans based on their individual needs, family situation and social relationships,” said Nataliia Balaniuk.
Oksana Shvets explored the key models of supporting war veterans and their families. Among them is the one-stop shop for veterans, a format for providing services in the Administrative Services Centre that enables building a single platform for services for war veterans offered in one place by different entities.
“The comprehensive reintegration of war veterans in municipalities can be promoted with the so-called Veteran Spaces. These places offer veterans information and consulting services, legal assistance, rehabilitation and recreational events. In addition, municipalities are advised to create veteran policy subdivisions of local councils to coordinate the local support for war veterans and their families,” she added.
At the second seminar, the experts of the training initiative spotlighted the options and procedures for implementing a model of supporting war veterans and their families in municipalities.
Oleh Postolovskyi, Head of the Veteran Policy Department of the Chortkiv City Council, shared his insights on the first events of the Support Programme:
“The Chortkiv municipality only recently created its Veteran Policy Department, so we are only taking the first steps here. Participation in the Support Programme is very important for us as it is giving us the advice that we urgently need. For us, this is basically training from scratch. Since we would like to establish systematic work with veterans and their families, we need the appropriate skills. Our department is new, so once we complete this training, we plan to begin active work with veterans, doing everything gradually but with a clear understanding and vision.”
