A round-table on «Partnership between the state and civic sectors: joint solutions to support vulnerable residents of a frontline city», organised by the Kharkiv Regional Charitable Foundation «Social Assistance Service», took place in Kharkiv. The event was held within the project «Expanding access to home care and palliative care services in 7 Ukrainian communities by a coalition of CSOs — social-service providers».

The event brought together representatives of the Foundation as well as specialists from the Department of Social Affairs, the Centres for Social Services, and the Territorial Centres for Social Services of the Saltivskyi and Nemyshlianskyi districts of Kharkiv. They discussed how the war has affected the needs of Kharkiv residents and what joint actions are needed to support children, families, internally displaced persons, older people, and palliative patients.

New challenges require joint solutions

As a frontline city, Kharkiv faces new social problems every day. The war has significantly changed people's needs and increased the burden on them. During the round-table, participants openly discussed current problems and gaps in the support system, the accessibility of social services, how to better refer people to the services they need, and why it is important to strengthen cooperation between state, municipal and civic organisations that provide services.

They stressed that today it is not enough simply to know which organisations work in the community and what services they provide. An effective system of cooperation needs to be created to quickly find the necessary resources and respond in time to people's new needs.

Meeting participants discussed how to establish closer cooperation between civic and charitable organisations, centres for social services and territorial centres for further work:

  • strengthening interaction between the state, municipal and civic sectors;
  • establishing a system of referrals for people between different social-service providers;
  • operational exchange of information about available resources and services;
  • joint response to the new needs of vulnerable residents of Kharkiv;
  • developing partnerships between organisations and institutions working with different population groups.

After the meeting, participants prepared concrete proposals and agreed on further cooperation. These agreements are to be formalised in memoranda and used to create an effective system of referrals for people who need social support. Everyone agreed that in wartime it is especially important to combine the resources and experience of different sectors. Partnership is exactly what makes it possible to respond faster to people's needs and to ensure more comprehensive and continuous support.

Thanks to such meetings, separate initiatives are gradually being brought together into a single system of support in which the person and their needs come first.

About the project

The event took place within the project «Expanding access to home care and palliative care services in 7 Ukrainian communities by a coalition of CSOs — social-service providers», the lead implementer of which is NGO «100% Life Rivne Network».

Six member organisations of the Coalition — with many years of experience working with older people, persons with disabilities, children, internally displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups — are involved in the project. These are:

  • KhRCF «Social Assistance Service» — Kharkiv;
  • NGO «Logos» — Chernihiv;
  • NGO «Association of Women of Ukraine» — Ternopil;
  • AUCO «Parostok» — Vinnytsia;
  • NGO «Kiddom» — Shyshaky community and Pyriatyn, Poltava Oblast;
  • NGO «Community Development Center “Idea. Action. Result”» — Vyzhnytsia, Chernivtsi Oblast.

Together, the organisations work to better understand the needs of communities, develop home-care and palliative-care services, strengthen local social-protection systems, and advance important changes at the local and national levels.

In the Kharkiv community, the project's partner is the Kharkiv Regional Charitable Foundation «Social Assistance Service». The organisation develops social services and strengthens cooperation between assistance providers so that residents in need of support can receive it on time.

The round-table took place within the project «Expanding access to home care and palliative care services in 7 Ukrainian communities by a coalition of CSOs — social-service providers» with the support of the Askold and Dir Fund, administered by ISAR Ednannia within the project «Strong Civil Society of Ukraine — Driver of Reforms and Democracy» with the funding of Norway and Sweden.