In recent years, the issue of municipal safety has ceased to be purely “reactive” in nature, focusing on how to respond to an emergency once it has already occurred. The emphasis is increasingly on resilience, the municipality’s capacity to anticipate risks, prepare for them and stay in control in crises.
In 2024–2025, the public safety working group operated with this mindset. This is a format for ongoing expert collaboration, where municipalities receive systematic support rather than one-off advice, from training and discussing challenges to providing support for specific administrative decisions in this area. Over this period, 31 informational sessions were held, along with a comprehensive training programme entitled “Steps for Specialists: Ensuring the Resilience of Critical Infrastructure in Municipalities” and ongoing consultations for municipal authorities, ranging from responding to inquiries to providing support for specific decisions.
The working group focused on the following issues in 2024–2025:
- Resilience of critical infrastructure and implementation of a national resilience system at the local level;
- Functioning of commissions on industrial and environmental safety and emergencies;
- Establishment and functioning of fire and rescue units;
- Creating emergency supplies and funds in municipalities;
- Improving alarm systems, bomb shelters and Points of Invincibility;
- Road infrastructure safety;
- Evacuation of people in case of potential or existing emergencies and providing them with personal protective equipment;
- Forming voluntary civil protection teams, and so on.
In 2025, 44 municipalities from 16 oblasts of Ukraine joined the training programme “Steps for Specialists: Ensuring the Resilience of Critical Infrastructure in Municipalities”. These included frontline and border oblasts, where security issues are not theoretical but of daily practical importance.
From isolated decisions to a comprehensive approach
As the Head of the Working Group, Viacheslav Nevinchanyi, explained, a key objective of the training is to help municipalities view safety holistically rather than in a fragmented manner.
“Many municipalities already had safety programmes in place, but these were often narrowly focused on a single area or type of risk. The training focused on encouraging municipalities to take a comprehensive approach to safety, from critical infrastructure to administrative decisions aimed at improving municipal resilience to emergencies caused by the suspension or deterioration of services, communications and preparedness that are vital to their livelihoods”.
Natalyne municipality: broadening the lens and adjusting the approach
For the municipality of Natalyne, the training served as an opportunity to review existing practices. According to Oleksandr Anakhin, the Head of the Civil Protection and Occupational Safety Department, while the resilience programme had existed before, it was given a major overhaul after the course.
“The programme used to be more narrowly focused. After the training, we expanded it by virtually ‘180 degrees’. This includes gas, water, heat supply, electricity, transport infrastructure and roads, both municipal and state ones. We took a look at the municipality as a single system where everything is interconnected”.
A separate section was devoted to communication:
“We also realised that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to communicating with residents. Even within the same municipality, different settlements have different concerns and responses. This requires a more tailored approach”.
Savyntsi municipality: when training becomes an instruction manual
For the municipality of Savyntsi, Kharkiv Oblast, participation in the programme effectively marked the starting point for systematic work on safety. Inha Abramishvili, a civil protection specialist, notes that before the training, this field was a new one for her, yet the course provided clear logic and practical tools.
“I joined the course with virtually no prior knowledge. But it was very accessible and practical. This was no “listen and leave” type of thing; each section instantly made sense of what exactly needed to be done in the municipality and how”.
The outcome for the municipality:
- Developing and approving the Critical Infrastructure Support Programme for 2025–2027;
- Updating the risk passport;
- Using risk mapping and matrices when zoning the territory;
- Work is ongoing on updating the action plan for the emergency period.
“This expertise is extremely helpful in my daily work. Whenever a task arises, I already know where to start and how to structure it,” she concludes.
The working group as a collaborative space
In addition to the training modules, a key part of the programme was the way the group worked: regular contact, being able to ask questions, discuss doubts and look for solutions together. According to participants, most of the challenges arise in the process of practical implementation, and this is where expert support is crucial.
The working group has served both as a source of knowledge and a point of reference for municipalities, providing a platform to confer with colleagues from other oblasts and recognise that similar challenges are not unique.
Moving on to implementation
Today, some of the municipalities are already moving from planning to practical implementation of the decisions they have developed. The real breakthrough, however, has already happened: safety in municipalities is increasingly seen as a system rather than a series of disconnected actions.
