At the beginning of June 2021, the team of the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) held constituent meetings with the representatives of the Civil-military administrations (CMAs*), which now joined the reform of the territorial organization of power. The meetings took place in the village of Sartana in the Mariupol district, and in the town of Marinka, Pokrovsky district, Donetsk region.
Along with the consolidation, amalgamated territorial communities (hromadas) gained new broad powers in various areas of daily life. This includes the organization of the system of providing educational, medical, administrative, social, and other services. Even in those communities where long-term leaders have been elected as the chairpersons, the government faced significant challenges in organizing the systematic work of the new executive bodies.
During the meetings, colleagues discussed the possibility of implementing the project “Ensuring access to social services in local communities along the contact line”, which is implemented by the Charitable Fund “Right to Protection” (R2P) with the support of UNHCR. According to CMA representatives, implementing such a project will significantly help support the social protection capacity building of the communities and settlements along the contact line and have been significantly affected by the armed conflict. Although it should be noted that the representatives of both CMAs have experience in the field of social services.
«There are lots of problematic issues in the communities where civil-military administrations have been established by Presidential Decree. In addition to the general problems with the exercise of the rights to social services guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, each such community has additional difficulties related to the long-term conflict and the lack of qualified professionals. The project “Ensuring access to social services in local communities along the contact line” will allow CMAs to establish the effective social protection system in order to provide quality social services in the communities within the timeframe specified by the Law of Ukraine.»
– says Oleh Lyubimov, Decentralization Coordinator at CF “Right to Protection” (R2P)
The result of the meetings was the signing of a memorandum on further interaction and cooperation with the leaders of the Civil-military administrations. In the future, there will be very troublesome work: creating working groups, conducting community needs assessments, creating a project model of social services, and, in fact, the implementation of such a model.
* Throughout the process of decentralization, the Marinska CMA was formed out of 8 merged councils (17 settlements), and Sartanska CMA – out of 7 councils (18 settlements), some of which are located close to the line of contact.
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