The Working Group on Public Safety and Recovery of UNDP works in 6 communities of the Kherson region. What and how do they help?

We are often asked what the abbreviation "WGPSR" means. We have always managed to say something about the Working Groups on Public Safety and Recovery and talked about them modestly on our social networks. Today, we amend and share all the details.

Therefore, the Community Security and Social Cohesion Working Groups (CSWGs) were launched by UNDP in 2017 as a new community mobilisation tool under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme. The purpose of the working groups was to combine efforts to improve community security and social cohesion in areas affected by the armed conflict. The Working Groups are also a consultative and advisory body of the local government that enables community decisions to be taken. It is a democratic tool that helps to build community dialogue and increase the level of trust. The Working Groups offer qualitatively different dynamics of authorities and interaction of people in the community, transforming thinking about the community.

Since 2021, our Foundation has started working on a project to create Working Groups in 4 Pryazovia communities of the Kherson region - the Chaplinka, Prysyvashshia, Henichek, and Novotroitsk communities. But, unfortunately, due to the full-scale invasion of the russian federation on the territory of Ukraine and the occupation of the Kherson region, the activities of the then-created Working Groups ceased in the second half of 2022. In the summer of 2023, after the de-occupation of the right-bank part of the Kherson region, our Foundation started work on the creation of a Network of the Working Group on Public Safety and Recovery (WGPSR) in three de-occupied communities of the Kherson district (Chornobaivka, Bilozerka and Stanislav communities) and three de-occupied communities of the Beryslav district (Novovorontsovka, Vysokopillia, Kochubeivka communities).

The focus of the Working Groups is the establishment of cross-sector partnerships and the unification and cohesion of as many stakeholders as possible in the community for joint activities in solving public safety and recovery problems. The Working Groups included representatives of military administrations, the police, the State Emergency Service, public and charitable organizations, volunteers, and other interested parties. These groups are open dialogue platforms and are consultative and advisory bodies of local authorities that enable the community's decisions to be implemented, as well as a tool of the democratic process for building dialogue and increasing the level of trust.

In August of this year, the sixth meeting of the WGPSR was held, with representatives of the Military Administrations of Bilozerka, Stanislav, Visokopillia, Novovorontsovka, Kochubeivka, and Chornobaivka communities, Starosty districts, public and charitable foundations, the police, the State Emergency Service, and UNDP participating. In total, 18 meetings were held in 6 communities this year, and about 300 participants participated.

The head of the "Union" Foundation, Yuriy Antoshchuk, presented to the working groups of communities a report on the WGPSR's activities in the Kherson region for the first six months of 2024. Thus, with the support of UNDP and in cooperation with military administrations, six communities implemented mini-initiatives worth more than UAH 2 million.

In addition, our Foundation collected ideas of desired initiatives from residents in 3 communities (Bilozerka, Chornobaivka, and Stanislav communities), based on which future projects will be developed. Also, together with these communities, we developed recommendations for the recovery of de-occupied communities.

The main goal of the WGPSR meeting this time was to discuss the format and terms of financing initiatives in public safety with the support of UNDP in the next six months and future projects developed based on previously submitted ideas by residents of the communities mentioned above.

So, for example, at a meeting in the Kochubeyivka community, the terms of financing a new initiative to restore the community's video surveillance system with UNDP's support and the Local fire brigade's personnel support were discussed.

Two initiatives in public safety will be financed in the Vysokopillia community: the installation of an alert system in the villages of Visokopillia and Novomykolaivka of the Beryslav district in the Kherson region and road signs and speed bumps in the community's territory.

In the Bilozerka community, the terms of financing new initiatives in public safety (installation of a video surveillance system and equipment of a fire-rescue vehicle with a mobile small-sized radio electronic control) and social cohesion projects were discussed. The implementation of these initiatives is planned in the community this year with the support of UNDP and UCBI.

Each of these three communities will receive USD 10,000 from UNDP to implement the initiatives.

In addition to mini-initiatives in 6 communities, UNDP will finance the needs of local fire brigades for USD 20,000 and will additionally equip two safe public hubs (in the Bilozerka and Novovorontsovka communities).

During the meeting, Yuriy Antoschuk shared plans until the end of 2024: "We plan to cover the needs for providing 6 Local fire brigades in 6 communities with equipment from UNDP by the end of the year. Two public hubs will be built in the Bilozerka and Novovorontsovka communities. Also, ten mini-initiatives will be implemented in 6 communities from UNDP and 11 projects in 3 communities of the Kherson district from UCBI. A Club of Active Citizens will be opened in Kherson. As part of the work of the groups, some workshops, information campaigns, and online training sessions are also planned with the support of UNDP."

Each community had the opportunity to express its wishes and proposals for the future and receive advice on implementing initiatives and meeting needs.

For example, Tetyana Malitska, a representative of the State Emergency Service in the Visokopillia community, requested help setting up a security class in one of the community's schools, where the educational process has already begun.

Svitlana Simonyants, specialist of the Stanislav Village Council and head of the initiative group, expressed her gratitude to our partners: "Our community is grateful to the "Union" Foundation and project partners UNDP and UCBI for supporting initiatives important to our community. Thus, three safe spaces for psychological relief activities with children, teenagers, and young people will be opened in our community. It is planned to purchase four electric tricycles, ten fire shields with equipment, fire extinguishers, etc., for the Local fire brigade and conduct training for the local population. Equipment for local paramedic and midwifery points will also be purchased."

As a reminder, the WGPSR in the six communities was created in July-August 2023 by orders of the heads of the military administrations within the framework of the initiative "Kherson region: public safety and recovery in conditions of change", implemented by the "Union" Foundation with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine with the financial support of the Government of Denmark, provided within the framework of the Program for Reconstruction and Peacebuilding.

Eleven international partners support the program: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the US Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan.