UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Program
UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Program consists of three components:
Component I: Economic recovery and infrastructure development
Thanks to the partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the program contributes to reducing the corruption risks associated with the implementation of the EIB loan for the amount of EUR 200 million euros for local self-government in the Eastern Ukraine. In 2018, five social infrastructure facilities were restored, including the central hospital in Myrnohrad, two schools in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and an administrative building in Severodonetsk.
Since 2015, 41 infrastructure objects have been restored in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Among them – water pumping stations, social service centers, bridges, health facilities and other important institutions. In total, about 4.6 million people have benefited from this activity.
650 start-ups and enterprises were supported, which contributed to the employment of 3,360 people affected by the conflict. In addition, more than 6,600 women and men have increased their knowledge and skills in business development, marketing and fundraising.
225 micro, small and medium enterprises from Eastern Ukraine were able to present their products and services at 4 business fairs in Kramatorsk, Severodonetsk, Kyiv and Lviv. More than 200,000 people have been covered by an entrepreneurship awareness campaign.
Component II: Local self-government and decentralization reform
Expansion of the decentralization reform processes is the strengthening of local self-government
14 Administrative Services Centers provide high-quality social and administrative services to more than 170,000 residents of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (63% of them are women).
Seven consultative offices provided administrative, psychological and legal services to 63,560 people affected by the conflict (40,121 of them women). The network of the offices expanded its presence in 285 settlements of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
39 public councils held advisory forums to increase public participation in the development, implementation and monitoring of local programs and regulations. To date, more than 400 recommendations have been implemented to restore infrastructure, improve livelihoods and foster social cohesion.
7 communities affected by the conflict have benefited from the implementation of gender-sensitive social and economic development strategies developed with the participation of the public. Additionally, seven Gender Coordination Councils have been created to promote the inclusion of gender issues in all local programs.
The first gender audit of access to medical, social and educational institutions was held in Kramatorsk. This led to a four-fold increase in budget allocations for the accessibility program for women and men with disabilities.
Component III: Public security and social cohesion
Improving public safety and social cohesion
26 Local Development Forums and Public Safety Working Groups function and continue to raise awareness of community-related social issues, and develop proposals and plans for local authorities and other stakeholders to address these issues. It is important to note that more than 70% of members of the working group on public safety believe that their inputs are taken into account in efforts to improve community security.
More than 300,000 residents of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts benefited from the implementation of more than 160 local initiatives to improve public safety, social cohesion, rule of law and gender equality. Over 1,600 people affected by sexual and gender-based violence have received legal and psychological help.
More than 100,000 persons affected by conflict (62% of whom are women) received high-quality legal aid. Two legal aid offices were opened at Novotroitsk and Maryinka checkpoints. Mobile application "Твоє пр@во" ("Your right") was made available to protect and implement the rights of internally displaced persons and persons who suffered sexual and gender-based violence.
Two courthouses in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts were reconstructed in accordance with the universal design principles.
32 cities of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were equipped with video conferencing systems that ensure effective coordination between local authorities, rescue services and law enforcement agencies.
The UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Program works in 6 oblasts: Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv; the Rule of Law Program works in the Zhytomyr region.
The program is jointly implemented by four UN agencies: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN Women, United Nations Population Fund, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The total budget for 2019-2022 exceeds USD 50 million.
The program has nine international donor partners.
Results of UNFPA work in 2020
PROSKILLS OF THE FUTURE
The PROskills of the Future program is an educational and creative training program aimed at developing young people’s super-professional skills of the XXI century related to creative and critical thinking, awareness of the future, ability to design individual and collective strategies, as well as co-creation, cultural diversity and peacekeeping. The program was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and is designed for after-school, extracurricular, elective activities of facilitators, psychologists, social educators working with adolescents aged 14-17 in children’s health and recreation facilities, vocational schools, secondary and out-of-school education institutions.
In 2020, under the PROskills of the Future program, 2 trainings were held for 62 camp counselors, psychologists, teachers and methodologists of summer camps, youth centers and out-of-school education institutions from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts. The trained trainers continued their activities in camps online and offline, reaching more than 200 adolescents, most of whom were vulnerable adolescents, including those living near the contact line.
SkillsLab 2020: Self-employment
90 young people aged 15-24, mostly VET students and graduates from Mariupol, Melitopol, Berdiansk and other settlements located along the coast of the Sea of Azov, the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, participated in a 3-month online training in starting own business under the program SkillsLab 2020: Self-employment. The 75 most active program participants took part in two youth business forums held in Melitopol and Mariupol and presented to young people the opportunities for developing own business provided by relevant local authorities, international organizations, development agencies and local startup incubators.
SkillsLab 2020: Path to Success
92 young people aged 15-24, mostly VET students and graduates from Mariupol, Melitopol, Berdiansk and other settlements located along the coast of the Sea of Azov, the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, participated in the online training SkillsLab 2020: Path to Success, which provided an opportunity for young people to learn how to develop a career plan, prepare a CV, correctly apply the skills of critical and design thinking, as well as confidently attend interviews on the way to the dream job. The 72 best graduates of SkillsLab 2020: Path to Success from different areas of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts attended two youth forums held in Melitopol and Mariupol, where, together with experts from various fields, young people discussed the current situation of young people in the labour market and found practical ways to get new opportunities for young professionals from the Azov region.
MYROPOLIS
Myropolis, a youth forum launched in 2019 as part of the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, continued its wonderful history! This year, 15 young people -participants of the 2019 forum, as well as youth activists from Triokhizbenka, Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, Soledar and Severodonetsk, first were trained in project activities, and then successfully implemented 5 creative projects in their communities: team building for leaders of youth councils in the Donetsk Oblast; arrangement of a music studio and holding a first festival in Soledar; a workshop on the art of peaceful protest in Triokhizbenka; integration of first-year students (including young people from the non-Government controlled areas) into the educational environment of the Donetsk National Technical University in Pokrovsk in the context of COVID-19; as well as establishment of a training workshop and awareness-raising activities for young people on plastic processing in Severodonetsk. About 200 local girls and boys in five communities of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were involved in the projects.
Online STEM hackathons for educators
71 teachers of pre-higher and vocational and technical education institutions of the Azov region took part in three STEM hackathons Gender Sensitive Vocational Guidance* in order to make their education institutions free from gender stereotypes, to create an educational space in which girls and boys can develop freely and realize their potential.
The teams participating in the hackathon projects selected and supported three projects-winners:
Production and distribution of a series of career guidance videos of Mariupol VET institutions;
Awareness-raising gender-sensitive activities of the team of bloggers-ambassadors of Berdiansk VET institutions among prospective students;
Virtual tour of Melitopol VET institutions.
Training in involving men in responsible fatherhood
Trainings in Formation of Responsible Fatherhood were conducted for 59 representatives of NGOs and activists from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.
During the trainings, the Guide ‘Making Responsible Fatherhood Popular and Fun’ was presented. In addition, as part of the initiative aimed to promote responsible fatherhood, an online meeting was held with an expert from the School for Dads from Belarus.
At the end of the year, 6 more webinars on involving men in responsible fatherhood were held, which were attended by about 300 participants from Kyiv, Donetsk, Odesa, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts. These webinars focused on opening Tatohubs in cities, as well as strengthening the involvement of dads in learning and developing their parenting skills.
Tatohubs
Tatohubs are clubs for dads with an important educational component, namely classes in child psychology, partner relations, stress management, nonviolent communication, overcoming gender stereotypes. The clubs also hold separate classes for future parents. Clubs for dads will help men build stronger relationships with their children and be more involved in caring for them.
In Kramatorsk and Troitska ATC, the opening of Tatohubs took place within the framework of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, which is implemented by four UN Agencies: the UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and supported by 12 international partners.
Events for dads and families
10 family teams from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts took part in the rafting ‘Ecodad Can Do Anything’ arranged by the NGO ‘Fishermen Community of Ukraine – UAFishingClub’, during which dads with children rafted more than 58 km along the Siversky Donets River, cleaning 5 beaches and seizing illegal fishing equipment on the way.
Almost 100 participants from the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts attended the family fishing festival in Rubizhne, Luhansk Oblast, as part of the the extended ‘Ecodad Can Do Anything’ initiative.
In addition, 24 representatives of NGOs from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, that are engaged or plan to engage in developing responsible fatherhood, took part in a 2-month distance training ‘Strategic Communication to Achieve Change’*. As a result of the training, two local information campaigns #SuperTato and TurboTato received technical, expert and mentoring support, involving 322 participants from the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts in their offline and online activities. Another information campaign, which included a video contest #SuperDadCanDoEverything, the presentation of 5 video stories of dads and the initiation of an online flash mob to mark the Father’s Day, covered 51,047 social media users.
There was also an online school on responsible fatherhood for 50 dads from Zaporizhzhia Oblast under the supervision of qualified psychologists.
Trainings and education of specialists
UNFPA trained 67 NGOs from the Eastern Ukraine in creating mechanisms for early prevention of GBV and mobilizing communities to prevent violence.
64 representatives of main agencies of the municipal system of legal mechanisms for the protection of victims, namely the police, courts, probation agencies, social services and authorized persons, participated in 6 workshops ‘Practical Application of Legal Mechanisms for Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence’, which took place in Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna (Luhansk Oblast) and Mariupol, Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk (Donetsk Oblast). The purpose of the workshops was to discuss and develop the ways to improve the interaction of actors in the application of legal mechanisms of protection of victims.
109 community activists from the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, in cooperation with UN Women and the Council of Women of the Donetsk Oblast NGO, participated in a three-month distance training under the Program ‘All Together: Involving Community Activists in Early Detection of Domestic Violence in Communities’*. The Program included three events: 1) five webinars by dedicated experts; 2) a certified online course ‘Integrated Approach to Tackling Violence against Women and Girls in Ukraine’ on the platform Break the Circle; 3) mentoring sessions for representatives of each community by experts on combating GBV. Some specific issues related to community victim support were addressed by experts during 32 individual supervisions at the request of participants, which became the final stage of activist training.
According to the final survey (feedback), after completing the training, 92% of participants were motivated to work in their communities to prevent and respond to cases of GBV and domestic violence.
17 psychologists of Family Departments and Centers of Social Services for Families, Children and Youth from different cities, Rayons and communities of the Donetsk Oblast were trained in working with perpetrators and received certificates from the Donetsk Oblast Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education. The training was conducted on request and in partnership with the Department of Family, Youth and Mass Events of National-Patriotic Education of the Donetsk Oblast State Administration.
