Can we talk about recovery in a place where explosions are heard every day? How can we engage businesses in supporting frontline communities? Why is cooperation between civil society organizations, government, and residents becoming a key condition for development?
We discuss these issues with Valeriia Matsai, director of the CO “Charitable Foundation “Revival of the Communities of the South”, which operates in the Kherson region. Over the past two years, the foundation’s team has evolved from a volunteer initiative into an organization that implements humanitarian, educational, and recovery projects, engages international partners, and collaborates with Ukrainian businesses.
“Our foundation was founded by four volunteers. Before that, we had already been involved in charity work, helping people, and gaining experience in other organizations. At some point, we realized we had enough experience to start our own foundation. Today, we work in several areas. The first is humanitarian aid. What sets our organization apart is that we don’t categorize people. We provide assistance to anyone who needs it. At the same time, we never make empty promises. If we have resources for 600 families, we will open registration for exactly 600 aid packages. We operate on the principle: if there’s aid available, we distribute it,” says Valeriia Matsai.
The charity foundation’s second focus is outreach events for children in Kherson and communities throughout the Kherson region, including workshops, art therapy, and various activities. This is how the “Fireflies of the South” project came about, through which the foundation works with children and helps them make up for lost learning.
Another area of focus is providing humanitarian aid to critical infrastructure workers who daily work under shelling and keep communities functioning. The Charitable Foundation “Revival of the Communities of the South” is also seeking opportunities to develop and rebuild communities.
According to Valeriia, things didn’t get any easier after the volunteer effort evolved into a charitable organization: “When we were volunteers, we thought: once we get our first round of funding, things will get easier. Then we received a second round. And our responsibilities only grew. Before, we were accountable only to the people we helped. Now, we’re still accountable to them, but we’ve also taken on responsibility toward donors, the staff we bring on board, and our partners. There’s a perception that if you work in the charitable sector, you just get a salary and that’s it—meaning you go from being a volunteer to simply a hired employee. That’s true, but we haven’t lost that volunteer spirit. And in reality, we work 24 hours a day. For us, nothing has changed. What has changed is that we can now bring in specialists. For example, teachers, art therapists, and other experts work on children’s projects. This allows us to do higher-quality work.”
At the same time, few people see the other side of our work—writing grant proposals, collecting data, monitoring needs, and reporting. A single proposal can take weeks to prepare, and in the end, only one in ten is approved. But all this work—which no one sees or talks about—needs to be done.
“We believe that volunteering isn’t about what you do, but about what you feel. If you feel that you want to help people, and that feeling comes from within—and if it stays that way—then it doesn’t matter what you do. The main thing is that you’re doing it for people,” says Valeriia Matsai.
When working in communities, every civic organization or charitable foundation must collaborate, communicate, and find common solutions with other organizations and government officials. Today, all actions must be coordinated and approved by military administrations, so we asked Valeriia how this interaction with government authorities takes place: “In fact, we’ve managed to establish good communication. We coordinate every event in advance, especially when working with children. This involves both safety and the choice of location. But we haven’t encountered any serious difficulties in our interactions with the military administrations. On the contrary, community representatives and local authorities are usually very accommodating. And this is the kind of cooperation that’s needed, because any action or change that might occur can never be limited to just one factor. Only by working together will we see results. The only thing I’d like to improve is the process of sharing information about community needs. Any grant application requires a needs assessment. And while it’s relatively easy to get information from people, official data often requires requests, correspondence, and time. And sometimes there’s only a week to submit an application. It would be good to streamline this process and make it more efficient. This would help organizations respond more quickly to funding opportunities.”
Valeriia says that even though many residents continue to receive humanitarian aid, critical issues remain. One of them is meeting basic needs for personal hygiene products. Soap, laundry detergent, dish soap, and toilet paper are items people are constantly short on. Yet, these areas don’t always appeal to donors: “I recall an instance when the Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill donated its products to us. We were very grateful for the help, but we also faced a wave of criticism. Some people believed that distributing toilet paper or paper towels supposedly undermined people’s dignity. In reality, the opposite is true. These are basic necessities that ensure comfort and human dignity. That’s why we always speak openly about such needs and are grateful to businesses that help meet them.”
This is a prime example of responsible business that, during difficult times, works alongside donors and international partners to help and support people through charitable foundations and organizations. The Charitable Foundation “Revival of the Communities of the South” has many very successful examples of such collaboration, but this is very challenging work.
“Every month, we send out more than 200 requests to businesses. We prepare a separate proposal for each company: we research what it does, what products it manufactures, and how it can help. Of these hundreds of requests, only a fraction of the companies respond positively. But even a little support makes a difference. It’s very important to report accurately. Businesses want to see the results of their support. And if an organization operates transparently—showing documents, photos, and real people’s stories—the partnership continues,” says Valeria.
Collaboration with other civil society organizations remains very important. Such partnerships provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and help meet more needs, just as collaboration with businesses does: “This works great on a national level, because while it’s clear that regions differ from one another, you can sometimes learn from another region how they’re coping under similar conditions—for example, Nikopol. I recently heard about how they work with children, and there are some interesting case studies there that we can also use. Within the Kherson region, we’re part of a working group. So, of course, that’s great too, because, first, it provides an opportunity for that very exchange of experience, and second, it allows us to address a wider range of needs. For example, if we receive a request we can’t fulfill ourselves, we forward it to a specialized organization. This works much more effectively than when everyone tries to do everything on their own.”
At the same time, there remains a challenge for young organizations and volunteers. Often, they simply don’t know where to turn in complex situations or how aid redirection mechanisms work. There needs to be a clearer coordination system that is accessible even to small initiatives or individual activists.
You often hear the view that we just need to respond to humanitarian needs right now. We asked Valeriia Matsai whether it’s appropriate to talk about recovery: “I’ll approach this from the perspective of working with children. When you work with children, you see that they absorb emotions from their surroundings. And their very first environment is their parents. Right now, children don’t see a future. And that’s probably their greatest fear, because even at such a young age, they already feel a sense of disappointment. And when we talk about our future, about rebuilding, about recovery, I associate this first and foremost with children, because children are our future. But for them to grow, they need to have faith in adults. Of course, a humanitarian response is essential. But faith in the future emerges from action. Reconstruction is a must, but it can take many forms. Humanitarian aid alone cannot motivate people to move forward.”
In closing, we asked Valeriia to share her vision for the future of the Kherson region: “I see a very positive future for the Kherson region. It is a powerful agricultural region with significant development potential. But there is another key factor—the experience that our communities have gained over the years. We have learned to live and work under extremely difficult conditions. And this experience will be our strength. We’ve already proven that we can work, implement initiatives, and achieve results even now, from our basements. And when the security situation changes, this potential will only grow stronger. That’s why I’m confident: the Kherson region has a very bright future.”
We invite Kherson residents to participate in an anonymous survey to better understand the moods, needs, and challenges faced by the Kherson region's population, and to assess the effectiveness of public organizations and authorities' work. Each of your answers is a crucial brick in the foundation of your future recovery. Your answers are completely anonymous and will be used exclusively in a generalized form for analytical purposes.
The interview has been produced by the Kherson Regional Charitable Foundation “Union” with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Its contents do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of EED. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in this publication lies entirely with the authors.
