A study was presented in Lviv, which showed that resilience remains the most critical issue in the second year of full-scale war, with the majority of surveyed communities (8 out of 12 communities) considering resilience to be the highest priority.
In particular, the availability and quality of shelters received the lowest rating among community residents, according to a study by the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities as part of the project “Strengthening the capacity of communities to rebuild through piloting their interaction with universities.”
This study will be useful both for communities themselves and for experts or the public sector working with communities.
The universities set out to develop a universal methodology for assessing the needs of communities, both frontline and rear, so that anyone interested can use it to collect data, analyze the situation, and find solutions.
What makes it special is that it takes into account the opinions of not only the authorities, but also the population, business, the public sector, and certain categories of the population, such as internally displaced persons or families of military personnel.
In this way, a comprehensive picture can be formed of what is happening in the community, what problems are recognized by everyone, and what interaction exists between different social groups in the community.
The study showed that many communities lack proper emergency plans. There are often no backup supplies of power and other resources needed to respond quickly to crises. Infrastructure needs to be improved: significant problems with the availability and quality of educational, medical and other services, and interruptions in mobile and Internet communications make it difficult to access important information and services.
According to the authors of the study, one of the weakest links in communities is the testing of IT systems used by local governments, as representatives of local governments rarely mentioned that they had been tested for vulnerability in the past year.
The study also covered the issue of development despite the war and recovery. During the presentation, Myroslava Savisko, project manager at the Center for Sociological Research, Decentralization and Regional Development at the Kyiv School of Economics, emphasized the importance of interaction between all social levels.
“Interaction between community leaders, businesses, and NGOs is important. Traditionally, there are problems with road infrastructure and economic development, but new issues of inclusiveness of space and vulnerable groups are also emerging,” Savisko said.
It is planned that the Alliance will continue to work with communities to address the biggest challenges by engaging its specialists, Ukrainian and international experts.
For reference: the study was conducted in February-April 2024 in 12 communities through an expert survey and public opinion research. Detailed results of the study and methodology can be found here. The project “Strengthening the capacity of communities to rebuild through piloting their interaction with universities” is implemented by the Alliance of Ukrainian Universities with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
Source: Osvita.UA
