For the maximum integration of internally displaced persons into the life of the community, there is an urgent need to implement effective support projects. After all, internally displaced persons overcome many obstacles in order to establish a full-fledged life in a new place.
For this purpose, yesterday, April 2, representatives of the UN Refugee Agency visited Drohobych for the second time. The delegation met with the head of the community Taras Kuchma and his deputy Yuriy Kushlyk to continue joint work on the project on long-term solutions for IDPs.
The beginning of this initiative was the creation of a working group at the national level in Kyiv, which is jointly chaired by UNDP, IOM and UNHCR, as well as non-governmental public organizations.
Twelve pilot communities in six regions were selected for the implementation of the project. Among the selected communities in the Lviv region are Drohobytska and Stryyska.
The goal of the initiative is to ensure the support of authorities and local self-government of Ukraine from the international humanitarian community in efforts to find long-term solutions for internally displaced persons in terms of improving access to housing, work, provision of administrative services, etc.
Thus, the next step in the work is the collection of data on the stay and residence of displaced persons in the community and the holding of a public hearing, at which the organization will present what has been researched and propose projects that can be implemented in the community.
As the representatives of the Agency note, this study will help in the analysis of the real situation in which internally displaced persons find themselves and gives an opportunity to identify needs, which in the future help to form a policy in the field of social protection and make effective decisions to improve the life of this category of citizens.
First of all, the mayor thanked the institutions for their support and introduced the current situation regarding the key needs of IDPs. As Taras Kuchma emphasized, the city aims to continue intensive work on three areas – building housing for IDPs, creating appropriate conditions for youth and children’s leisure time (we are talking about sports grounds and children’s centers), and psychological support for children and adults, in particular military personnel.
From the first days of the war, Drohobych became not just a city in the rear, but a kind of hub that accumulated various aid and redirected it to the cities that suffered from the occupier, as well as to the advanced positions to the soldiers. As of today, more than 8,500 IDPs live in our city. Some of them settled here and do not plan to leave the Drohobytsk community. Some, unfortunately, simply have nowhere to turn. We really want internally displaced persons to integrate into the life of the city and feel safe here, where they are taken care of and their needs are understood, said Mayor Taras Kuchma.
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