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The ninth meeting of the Working Group on Public Safety and Recovery was held in the Bilozerka community. Participants were brought together both online and offline, emphasizing the importance of personal communication despite the deteriorating security situation.
Representatives of the military administration, the village council, public and charitable organizations, the State Emergency Service, medical and educational institutions, and the community police officer summarized the results of two years of activities and discussed priorities for 2026.
During these two years of the WGPSR's activity in the Bilozerka community, several initiatives were implemented: an office for the community police officer and a safe public space for meetings was equipped, an uninterruptible power supply in medical institutions, a video surveillance system and fire hydrants were installed, and specific requests from the local fire brigade were met, the working group was reinforced with office equipment and furniture.
Several other initiatives identified by the working group at the previous meeting are under consideration by UNDP and await funding.
At the current meeting of the WGPSR, new challenges facing the community were outlined. First of all, this is a worsening security situation, which complicates donors' work and projects' implementation. Shelling continues daily, and mining of Kherson and the surrounding areas is becoming more and more widespread. The meeting participants expressed their wish to reduce bureaucratic procedures for donors, as this delays the implementation of projects. In addition, the problem of finding qualified specialists for the implementation of projects remains relevant for the Bilozerka community. The meeting participants emphasized that many donors are beginning to focus on reconstruction, while the security problem remains appropriate for the Kherson region.
Among the priorities for 2026, the participants of the WGPSR voiced the need to implement several security initiatives and support school officers in blended learning institutions, ensure barrier-free access in institutions, provide medical institutions with specific equipment, install mobile shelters in remote settlements where there are no stationary shelters, install anti-drone nets to protect against enemy drones on highways and central streets, as well as organize specialized trainings for employees of the village council and municipal institutions.
The working group meeting demonstrated the community's desire to improve the security situation and development despite the difficult conditions.
As a reminder, the WGPSR in the communities was created in the summer 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.
Over two years, 54 working group meetings were held in 6 communities of the Kherson region, where WGPSR operates. About 730 participants participated, of which 140 were unique. The number of participants is constantly growing, indicating a positive dynamic involving people in the process. More than 20 initiatives and several grant projects in public safety and social cohesion were implemented.
