Strengthening Social Cohesion
Mission: Development of the coaction of communities and societies in Ukraine for the well-being of all inhabitants, overcoming poverty, inequality and social isolation.
Goal: Promoting activation, commitment and interaction to overcome common challenges and build community resilience.
Key directions (services, activities):
- Formation of a culture of volunteering in communities.
- Volunteer movement activation
- Professionalization of personnel in the coordination of volunteers
- Ensuring sustainability of the volunteering movement
The number of involved volunteers for six months 2024:
Total number: 1209
Permanent: 630
Non-permanent: 579
Men: 327; 27.05%
Women: 875; 72.37%
IDPs: 301; 24.90%
Local: 902; 74.61%
Persons with disabilities: 17; 1.41%
Number of activities: 6463
- Strengthening social cohesion reinforces the communities to cope.
- Organizational capasity building and professionalisation in community work
- Community capasity building
The activities of community facilitators implementing in more than 300 territorial communities, including rural districts, across Ukraine. Facilitators conducted at least 118 events for 1685 participants that included:
- bringing together organizations to jointly address social problems of vulnerable groups (veterans’ families);
- conflict sensitivity training for representatives of NGOs;
- uniting organizations for joint problem solving;
- facilitating sessions for social cohesion and psychological relief for IDPs;
- writing grant projects;
- training how to manage conflicts;
- facilitated meeting to debunk myths about employment in municipal institutions;
- collecting needs in communities;
- integration activities in the format of master classes and cultural meetings;
- established partnership for interaction between authorities and NGOs;
- roundtable on cooperation between IDPs and NGO;
- assistance in implementing small grants in communities;
- socio-cultural events, dialogue meetings to find mutual understanding, building community dialogues, effective communication and conflict resolution.
- Reinforcing the role of religious communities in cohesion.
- Capasity building of religious communities in social ministry and cohesion:
- 108 parishes were involved
- 648 participants School of Social Service program
- 3026 volunteers from parishes participated in the SOVA Social and Educational Volunteer Academy
- 104 parishes submitted their projects, of which
- 79 parish initiatives were supported
- 4740 people (beneficiaries) benefited from the assistance, services, and activities of the projects
- Promoting of peaceful coexistence in communities.
- Caritas capasity building in conflict sensitivity and management
- Reinforsement of inteaction and precondition of peacefull coexistence in communities
- Ensuring a just peace for Ukraine
- In 2023, 48 mini-grants on social cohesion were provided and implemented in communities:
- 3 LOCAL AUTHORITIES
- 5 religious organisations (4 UGCC and 1 OCU)
- 40 CSOS2 self-organised groups of IDPs registered NGOs
Local organizations of the Caritas network where the program is implemented:
- Caritas Ivano-Frankivsk
- Caritas Zhovkva
- Caritas Kamyanske
- Caritas Kryviy Rig
- Caritas Donetsk in Dnipro
- Caritas Poltava
- Caritas Kharkiv
- Caritas Odesa
- Caritas Beryslav
- Caritas Kherson
- Caritas Kolomyia
- Caritas Ternopil
- Caritas Stryi
- Caritas Zaporizhzhia
- Caritas Nadvirna
- Caritas Drohobych
- Caritas Kyiv
- Caritas Fastiv
- Caritas Kramatorsk
- Caritas Chernihiv
- Caritas Sumy
- Caritas Mariupol
- Caritas Buchach
- Caritas Volyn
- Caritas Lviv
- Caritas Chernivtsi
- Caritas Zhytomyr
- Caritas Kropyvnytskyi
- Caritas Mykolaiv
- Caritas Mukachevo
Partners who joined the implementation of the program:
- NIN
- ECHO
- BHA2
- Renovabis
- CNEWA
- KZE
- UHF
- Caritas Austria
- Caritas Germany
- Caritas Italy
- CRS
- USAID
- Карітас Франції
- Kirche in Note
- USССB Американська єпископська конференція АЄК
- Caritas Germany
List of active projects:
- Humanitarian aid for people affected by the conflict in Ukraine NIN.
- Advocacy of sustainable social services of Caritas Germany.
- Inclusion, Caritas France. Specialized support and assistance to children, persons with disabilities and their families during the response to the war in Ukraine (Sumy and Chernihiv regions).
- HFU “Responding to the critical situation of IDPs and the affected local population: strengthening communities in the eastern and western regions of Ukraine”.
- “ECHO – Providing effective access to protection and basic needs for the conflict-affected population in the frontline areas in the north and central part of Ukraine”.
- “Crisis support for people affected by the conflict in Kharkiv, Ukraine”.
- Spiritual formation of volunteers (Spiritual training for volunteers).
- Provision of critical basic needs of the war-affected population of Ukraine and the liberated territories.
- Humanitarian protection of people.
- BHA multi-sectoral assistance.
- ACTS Our volunteers, our treasure – Strengthening our services thanks to inspired and well-managed volunteers.
Needs and relevance of the program:
- Support for social service must be sustained so that the faith community remains a leader.
- There is a need for support and new approaches to the psycho-emotional recovery of specialists, volunteers and community activists.
- There is also a need for separate projects purely on social cohesion: on reducing social tension and misunderstanding between different groups in Ukraine, on the culture of volunteering.
- The end-to-end conflict-sensitivity component in the Caritas network needs development.
- A big risk is the involvement of specialized specialists and male volunteers due to mobilization for the army, as well as complicated movement.