October 2022

‘Together we can do more’ – Dobrobat NGO

“For the city of Irpin, which stopped the enemy army on its approaches to Kyiv and was the most affected by hostilities in the region, “Dobrobat” volunteers have long since become not just reliable partners, but true friends.” This is how the mayor of Irpin, Oleksandr Markushyn, described the volunteer movement Dobrabat and its importance to his community.

On June 19, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the city of Irpin, represented by its mayor and the funders of Dobrobat, Victor Andrusiv and Rostyslav Smirnov. Since then, over 30 houses have been repaired and saved thanks to the work of Dobrabat’s volunteers who are cooperating with the city’s communal services.

“When half of the city is destroyed, and there are simply no funds to attract commercial construction companies in the local budget, the work of Dobrobat volunteers is worth its weight in gold for us. And if we talk about it on the scale of a country that is at war, then even more so! Funds should now go to defense to protect against the aggressor!”

Dobrobat is a volunteer movement rebuilding homes and infrastructure in liberated cities that have been destroyed by the invading Russian forces. Volunteers remove debris and renovate buildings to make them inhabitable again. Besides the obvious practical benefits, the project carries a strong symbolic meaning of national unity harnessing Ukrainians’ grassroots horizontal organisation and mutual help. The Dobrobat volunteers are a bridge between the state and the Ukrainians who are suffering due to hostilities, as they work with both the state institutions and local authorities. For instance, in Yahidne village, they are restoring 22 houses in partnership with the Ministry of Territories and Communities Development of Ukraine. On July 13, 2022, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal visited the village of Yahidne and praised Dobrobat’s support in the restoration of residential buildings and infrastructure.
The Dobrobat volunteers have already helped the Ukrainians in 30 settlements of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions (repaired windows, roofs, doors, and removed debris on the territories of hospitals, schools, kindergartens, parks, and private houses). Today Dobrobat has received 37,000 applications from volunteers from all over the country who are ready to come to the liberated cities to work there. From those, they have engaged 7,000 volunteers who are helping the reconstruction of their country as well as learning a new trade that can help them in the future. Despite the already 300 trips that have been organized within four months, requests from settlements are still flooding in.

To be as effective as possible, a map was developed to register private and public buildings that need to be repaired, with detailed pictures and estimated work. This map is available in English to widen the potential of donors for the organisation that deeply needs financial and logistic support. To ensure transparency they will provide a report on how the donated funds have been used with photos of the renovated building. Every donor knows exactly what their donation helped restore.

TARAN Stanislav

Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)

Bridges of Trust partner-municipalities, Fastiv and Druskininkai, meet in person for the first time

On 3-7 October 2022, a delegation from Fastiv municipality in Kyiv region travelled to Lithuania to visit their Bridges of Trust partner-municipality Druskininkai.

The two partners first met in November 2021 through the Bridges of Trust project, implemented by CEMR, PLATFORMA and supported by the U-LEAD with Europe Programme. Following online bilateral meetings and presentations of municipalities, the visit to Druskininkai was organized to meet in person.

The visit had the following main goals:

• physically meet the partners for the first time;
• discover the best practices of the Druskininkai partner municipality with a strong focus on rehabilitation;
• discuss the possibility of a joint project in the field of rehabilitation and the future of the cooperation.

According to Yuliia Kazakova, medical director of the Fastiv hospital, paediatrician, and Head of the project “Psychological and medical assistance to children and their families affected by the War”:

“For me personally, the visit to Lithuania, to the picturesque town of Druskininkai, has been important, because of the incredible support of the European community and of every Lithuanian. Once again it strengthened my confidence that Ukraine is not alone, we are part of the European family, prosperity and well-being await our country.

From a professional point of view, I express my sincere gratitude to my Lithuanian medical colleagues. Their experience in providing complex rehabilitation services to adults and children will help us in organizing the rehabilitation of our own children and their families suffering from war. I hope that future cooperation and joint projects between Fastiv and Druskininkai municipalities will be fruitful and effective.”

To this, the Secretary of the Fastiv City Council, Liudmyla Rudiak, stressed his confidence in the utility of such visits to rehabilitate Ukrainian cities:

“I can confidently say that I received a lot of motivation to use the acquired knowledge for the development of our community. The Druskininkai team shared their experience in the field of rehabilitation, social, youth, and educational initiatives. It is clear that good project management and access to European funds make it possible to develop and expand the capabilities of the local self-government. Special thanks to Druskininkai for the hospitality, openness, willingness to cooperate and support Ukraine.”

The partners are now exploring opportunities to apply for EU funding to support a joint project in the sphere of healthcare and rehabilitation.

TARAN Stanislav

Project Officer – International Partnerships (U-Lead)