"Conversations about Restoration" with Igor Tsurkan, executive director of the NGO "Kherson League of Social Workers", about the work of NGOs in Kherson and coordination between them
Today, in the new edition of "Conversations about Restoration," we talked with Ihor Tsurkan, executive director of the NGO "Kherson League of Social Workers," about the current situation in the Kherson region, what is lacking for public organizations and cooperation with the authorities and business.
The NGO "Kherson League of Social Workers" was actively involved in humanitarian activities from the beginning of the full-scale invasion, during the occupation, and continues its activities today, helping families with children and people with limited mobility with basic necessities, opening social laundries and conducting activities for children and teenagers.
Currently, Kherson's issue is not development but survival: "Kherson is a very dangerous area. If earlier we saw that today we have one danger, a month later another appeared, but today the situation is critical. In my opinion, business is at zero, especially medium and large businesses. The situation is very difficult," says Ihor Tsurkan.
The social status of people has changed a lot. 60% of Kherson's population are elderly people who will not leave but must be supported. Ihor Tsurkan believes public organizations should focus on and help such people.
Sometimes, the government tries to transfer some of its work to public organizations. "We understand very well that we cannot rely on the authorities. But the cooperation must be 100%. Help and support are mutually beneficial. The city authorities set certain of its functions to NGOs, and we do this because our function is to help people. And the authorities see that we are doing well." NGOs and volunteers can quickly respond to new challenges, but the government must be directly involved. However, cooperation should be transparent, open, and understandable from the very beginning.
Each NGO in Kherson deals with its spectrum and direction of work, and everyone knows who is doing what, redirecting to each other. But, according to Ihor Tsurkan, there is actually no such coordination between different NGOs, between the distribution of humanitarian aid. Moreover, NGOs in Kherson are often faced with the fact that some "non-local" public organizations and foundations are unaware of the situation in Kherson and the region, and it often turns out that they receive an offer of help for those territories currently under occupation.
"There are friendly organizations with which we work. We work with those who know about the situation and the activities of our NGO. But to a greater extent, coordination as such is absent," says Ihor Tsurkan.
Before the invasion, one of Ihor Tsurkan's areas of work was the tourist business, so we asked his opinion about the business situation in Kherson and the region: "The business situation is complicated. Most have left or relocated. Before the war, Kherson Oblast had a very active development in tourism. Unfortunately, today, it all stopped due to the security situation. Currently, two painful topics for Kherson are business and education. And now we have to think about how to provide people in Kherson with the most necessary. We need to develop small businesses and give people the opportunity to earn their own money. People should not only receive something from the city but also give something to the city themselves." The state should actively participate in this - open retraining courses, for example, create job opportunities. And this is also a matter of coordination and cooperation between the authorities and NGOs.
Talking with Ihor Tsurkan, we concluded that the restoration of the city and the region is impossible without the desire of the residents themselves to work for this restoration. "We perfectly understand that no one from other cities will come to work in Kherson. We have to find that resource here ourselves and involve people in all processes—recovery, development, and reduction of negative consequences."
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* The interview uses videos from the NGO "Separate Division of the Kherson Regional League of Social Workers."