For the first time since February 24, 2022, when russia invaded Ukraine on a full scale, the leadership of the "Union" Foundation, breaking out of the occupation, took part in the meeting of the working group's network on public security and social cohesion within the framework of the UN Program for Reconstruction and Peacebuilding.
The issues of expanding the network's activities in other communities, including the de-occupied territories, were discussed during the meeting. The problems Ukraine will face after its victory in this war, the challenges that will be faced by each citizen, and how to coordinate and build a partnership between the authorities and the community for the development of regions were given publicity.
The representatives of working groups: volunteer organizations, charitable foundations, police, military administrations from Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Zhytomyr regions, where the networks operated until February 24, 2022, as well as public figures from other near-frontline regions of Ukraine attended the meeting.
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Working groups on public safety and social cohesion are not only open dialogue platforms but also consultative and advisory bodies that enable the implementation of community decisions in program documents of local authorities and gradually move from project management to program management aimed at sustainable and qualitative changes.
From the first days of the full-scale war, the Network of Working Groups on Public Security and Social Cohesion contributed in every possible way to strengthening the potential of communities to overcome the challenges caused by military aggression. Despite the active hostilities, the tool of working groups on public security and social cohesion has proven its effectiveness. Those communities that managed to develop strong horizontal ties based on trusting relations between the main actors (local government, civil society, security service providers) are better able to cope with the organization of evacuation, support of internally displaced persons, provision of social and humanitarian support to citizens affected by the war, etc. under other circumstances.
In the Kherson region, a network of working groups was being developed in the communities near the Azov sea of the region, where active work was carried out last year. Certain work is already planned in the liberated communities for 2024, which will help to unite the efforts of the authorities, the community, the police, and the State Emergency Service for the development and restoration of the territories.
The UN Reconstruction and Peacebuilding Program (UN RPP) is implemented by four UN agencies: the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Framework for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and the United Nations Agricultural Organization (FAO).
The program is supported by twelve international partners: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the US Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.