The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to join the support of housing projects for internally displaced persons, which are currently being implemented in Drohobych.
These are the construction of another modular house on Pylyp Orlyk Street and the reconstruction of one floor of a building on Fabrychna Street in Drohobych, which began with the support of the Move Ukraine Charitable Foundation. Together, these projects will help to equip more than 40 apartments for IDP families.
Today, a delegation of UNHCR representatives headed by Omed Hosamedin Ayoub, Head of the Lviv office, and representatives of the Nika-Ukraine Charitable Foundation headed by Albert Pirchak, Director, visited Drohobych with a humanitarian coordination mission. The delegation also included representatives of the organization from Kyiv, Lviv, and Zakarpattia.
The guests were welcomed by Drohobych Mayor Taras Kuchma, together with Oksana Matchyshyn, director of the city’s social services center, who has been working on shelters for internally displaced persons and cooperation with international funds since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The purpose of the visit is to discuss the existing projects in the community and to establish cooperation in order to accumulate resources and attract additional support from other foundations.
We thank you for the coordinating role you have taken on in the community and for what you have already done. The projects you have implemented can serve as an example for others. We also had the opportunity to see two projects that Move Ukraine is currently implementing in your city. All of them provide a long-term solution to the problem. For us, these are very valuable initiatives, so we are ready to support them and, for our part, make efforts to attract other funds to accumulate as many resources as possible,” said Omed Hosamedin Ayoub, Head of the UNHCR Lviv Field Office.
The mayor presented to the guests the experience of Drohobych community in providing shelter to internally displaced persons, the difficulties the community had to overcome during the full-scale invasion and the energy crisis and challenges, successful experience in implementing projects and the challenges that are still being faced.
We have received more than twenty thousand people. Of course, some people stayed with us temporarily. However, more than eight thousand people still live in the community. Most of them have started to build a new life here and see their future in our community. We understand that if we do not provide people with a roof over their heads, they will go abroad. Our country will continue to lose people. Therefore, we are interested in keeping them here. Of course, all this translates into new infrastructure needs, which also require resources. But despite all this, we have managed to implement several projects and are working on the next ones. Other cities are adopting our experience, and we are pleased with that. But none of this would have been possible without the support of international funds. We thank you and look forward to further cooperation,” said Mayor Taras Kuchma.
During the visit, the guests also discussed the assimilation of new residents into the community, providing people with jobs, and the multiculturalism of Drohobych, where various national minorities successfully coexist.
As a result of the visit, the parties agreed to sign a memorandum of cooperation to raise funds for the implementation of housing improvement projects in the community.