SOCIALIZATION OF VETERANS: A SPECIAL COURSE FOR MUNICIPAL MANAGERS HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

It is important to create conditions in communities where everyone returning from war can find their place, feel support and realize themselves. That is why the Community Recovery Academy together with the Ukrainian Catholic University has launched a special course for municipal managers.

It aims to provide community professionals with knowledge and practical tools to help make the process of veterans' adaptation in communities as comfortable and effective as possible.

The course program covers a wide range of topics - from creating a support ecosystem to specific mechanisms that can be implemented right now. Course participants will learn how to:

• Organize rehabilitation and psychological support for veterans.
• Launch and effectively manage veterans' spaces.
• Adapt municipal services to the needs of those returning from war.
• Build teams of specialists to work with veterans.

A special emphasis is placed on employment issues. The course participants will consider the challenges veterans face in finding a job, as well as effective approaches to help communities become a space for new opportunities.

The course is taught by not only experienced professionals, but also practitioners from different regions of Ukraine who will share their own experience - both successful cases and difficulties they have had to overcome. This will allow participants to gain not only theoretical knowledge but also practical solutions that they can adapt to the new realities of their communities.

Representatives of 30 communities from 18 regions of Ukraine joined the training. This proves that communities are eager for change and are ready to work to make their space comfortable and accessible to all residents. And this course is another important step in this direction. 

The Community Recovery Academy project was founded by the Association of Ukrainian Cities and the NGO Mariupol.Reborn to train municipal managers for the recovery period. The project is supported by the UK Government through the UK International Development program and the International Republican Institute IRI Ukraine in partnership with Metinvest and SCM. Educational partners of the project: Metinvest Polytechnic and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.