On 18 January, a municipal shelter for gender-based and domestic violence survivors was opened in Chernivtsi. It will provide safe temporary housing, food, and comprehensive social and psychological assistance to overcome the consequences of violence.
In the shelter, survivors of violence can find temporary shelter for a period of several weeks to 3 months (in some cases, 6 months). The shelter can accommodate up to 9 people at a time.
The opening of the shelter was attended by Kateryna Levchenko, Ukraine’s Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, representatives of the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, local authorities, NGOs, and UNFPA Ukraine.
UNFPA Ukraine, with the support of the Government of Canada, helped to renovate and equip the premises and provided other support necessary to launch the service.
«We are proud to work with Chernivtsi. Thanks to the active position of the city and the community, the system of combating gender-based and domestic violence is developing quickly and effectively. UNFPA is interested in further expanding cooperation with the Chernivtsi territorial community within the framework of jointly identified priorities», – said Assistant Representative of UNFPA in Ukraine Pavlo Zamostian, during a meeting with the Mayor of Chernivtsi.
Since 2023, Chernivtsi has been a participant in the UNFPA project "Cities and Communities Free from Domestic Violence". The city has a Psychosocial support mobile team, a Daycarw centre with crisis rooms, and now a shelter. Thus, the system of specialised services for survivors of gender-based violence has been developed.
«Combating violence is a task that we, as the authorities, must approach responsibly. In addition to the opening of the shelter today, cooperation with UNFPA has already led to the implementation of numerous projects in our city, such as the VONA Hub, Survivor Relief Centres, the Vilna Space, a crisis room for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence, and a PSS mobile team. We look forward to further cooperation with UNFPA», - said Roman Klichuk, Mayor of Chernivtsi.
The project "Cities and Communities Free from Domestic Violence", which aims to strengthen the capacity and role of Ukrainian cities and communities in building sustainable mechanisms for protecting and assisting survivors, developing a network of quality specialised services, improving coordination at the local level and engaging local residents in the prevention and early detection of domestic violence.
