MAROUPOL REBORN PARTNERS' CIRCLE GROWS - NRC WILL INCREASE SUPPORT FOR MAROUPOL RESIDENTS IN 2024
Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko had a meeting with Roberto Vila-Sexto, Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Ukraine. Among the areas of cooperation discussed were support for the "I’Mariupol" centers and the creation of temporary housing for Mariupol residents.
Currently, Vadym Boichenko has offered potential partners from the NRC to cooperate on three dormitory buildings. Finally, the mayor of Mariupol and Roberto Vila-Sexto, Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Ukraine, agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding for 2024, which will define the areas of cooperation. This document is already under development, which sends a strong message that NRC will continue to support Mariupol residents next year.
I admire what the team of the Mariupol municipality is doing and consider it my duty to help the people of Mariupol
One of the main responses of the Mariupol City Council to the challenges of the war is the Mariupol Reborn project, which is being implemented together with domestic and international partners and financial institutions. As part of Mariupol Reborn, a model of transforming abandoned dormitories that were on the balance sheet of educational institutions into comfortable temporary housing for Mariupol IDPs was developed.
Since 2016, Mariupol has started to acquire expertise in helping internally displaced persons. At that time, 120 thousand new Mariupol residents came to our city. That's how we called the displaced people. Then, we could not even imagine that six years later, this experience would be needed in relation to Mariupol residents themselves. But it so happened that the enemy deliberately destroyed our city. More than 200,000 people left the city. At least 120,000 of them are now on the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. That is why I am very grateful to each partner for supporting the dormitory transformation project. This makes it possible to make the lives of our people in the new communities more comfortable and give them a much-desired sense of coziness
Over the year and a half of russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the Mariupol municipality team has opened 25 “I’Mariupol” support centers (including two “I’Mariupol. Family” centers) in 17 cities of Ukraine. They require consistent support from partners, as more than 60,000 IDPs from Mariupol are registered in the centers. Humanitarian kits, distribution of winter clothes for children or certificates from a partner to purchase these items, support for Mariupol schoolchildren with laptops and stationery sets are constant urgent needs to support people.
The City Council team has already launched a project to create social housing. On April 27, 2023, the first pilot dormitory for Mariupol residents was opened in Dnipro. This project consolidated the state, international partners, and business. One of the partners was Rinat Akhmetov's SCM company. 127 Mariupol residents received keys to their accommodation, mostly women and children.
We remind that NRC is a non-governmental Norwegian humanitarian organization that operates in 25 countries, including Ukraine. Its goal is to protect the rights of people affected by forced displacement. It has been operating in Ukraine since 2014.
The Mariupol Reborn project is being implemented by the Mariupol City Council with the investment support of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM and international donors.
