Along with emergency assistance projects for war-affected communities, the USAID DOBRE Program does not neglect residents of provisionally safe regions by strengthening the capacity of local governments. It sounds like simple tools and equipment, but the budgets of many communities cannot always finance all the things needed for daily needs.
The mountainous Ust-Putylska community in Bukovyna comprises 13 villages with a population of 5,500. With the outbreak of the war, many local individual entrepreneurs shut down their businesses, with men leaving to defend the country and people from the affected regions coming here for shelter and help. The reform of the forestry industry also hit the community residents hard, leaving them unemployed and the local budget without the usual revenues. As a result, the community’s this year’s budget is finding it increasingly difficult to cover its needs.
“The legislative framework in Ukraine gets altered almost every day. And the requirements and norms that we must comply with and fulfill change along with it. However, our small community cannot finance all the urgent needs on its own,” – says Ms. Maria Ilyuk, head of the Ust-Putylska community. “So we are looking for help from international partners. That’s why the equipment from the USAID DOBRE Program totaling almost 250 thousand hryvnias was very timely and helpful for us.”
As part of the Emergency Response Project, the Ust-Putylska community received laptops, inverter generators, portable charging stations, a submersible pump, as well as ladders, chainsaws, and street extensions for each starostat (a community’s county). All this equipment helped the community during the energy crisis and can be used in the future.
“This equipment has helped us a lot,” – says Ms. Antonina Skydan, head of the local NGO Zlagoda. “The generators and laptops now ensure the smooth operation of our administrative services center, which provides dozens of services to residents every day. We have installed portable stations at the points of invincibility in Roztoky and Ust’-Putyla so that people can charge their phones during power outages or while waiting for the air raid to end.”
The community had requested a submersible pump for the Ust-Putyla gymnasium, commissioned two weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, an emergency soon occurred in the kindergarten in Roztoky, one of the largest villages in the community, when the heating system failed. Thus, the pump was transferred to the kindergarten, which helped to stabilize the problem quickly.
“Not only the heating system of this kindergarten but also the water supply and sewage system are in dire need of an overhaul,” – explains Ms. Maria Ilyuk. “While we are looking for the possibility of carrying out such expensive work, the pump helps out so that the institution does not stop working. It is crucial for preschoolers and their working parents.”
The startostats’ headmen are also pleased with the equipment they received. They need ladders to perform various repairs and chainsaws to harvest firewood for the winter, as all the institutions of the mountainous community are equipped with solid-fuel boilers or stove heating. Also, the weather-resistant street extension cords are used when cutting firewood for procurement to the establishments, explains Ms. Antonina Skydan.
Despite the financial challenges, the community does not give up and is looking for development opportunities. Consultations are already underway with USAID DOBRE experts to establish a bakery in Pidzakharychi village, and preparatory work for a youth space has begun in Roztoky. Also this year, the Ust-Putylska community plans to equip open sports spaces and strengthen the material and technical base for gyms in schools with the help of the USAID DOBRE Program.
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The USAID Program, “Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency” (DOBRE), is a nine-year program, implemented by Global Communities and funded by the United States Agency for International Development. DOBRE has worked closely with 100 consolidated communities (CCs) in ten Oblasts of Ukraine to help them realize the benefits and meet the challenges brought by decentralization. DOBRE provides technical and material assistance to CCs to help them govern openly and accountably and meet the needs of their citizens; and supports citizens’ active engagement in decision-making and policy making. DOBRE’s support encompasses strategic planning; spatial planning; financial management; public service delivery; local economic development; capacity building; good governance practices; and gender- and youth-responsive policies.
In the period 2022 – 2025, DOBRE will be working directly with at least 60 CCs of Ukraine to help them cope with the consequences of the war, recover and rebuild, and resume their trajectory of positive, sustainable development. Partners with Global Communities in the DOBRE Program Consortium include the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center; the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy, and the Malopolska School of Public Administration at the Krakow University of Economics, Poland.
