Special Project: Mayor of Chervonohrad: The most effective way to communicate with IDPs is the desire to help people

Exclusive interview with the head of the Chervonograd community, Andrii Zalivskyi, as part of the joint special project of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency and East Europe Foundation “Community Experience”. The objective is to show the best examples of adaptation and integration of forcibly displaced persons in order to increase the efficiency of the work of local self-government bodies.

Read more about effective interaction with IDPs in the free online course “Adaptation and integration of IDPs: experience and opportunities” on the educational “Zrozumilo!” platform.

How did you prepare your city for the great war? What short- and long-term action plans did you have and to what extent were they implemented?

Initially, we worked on protection of civilians - we prepared shelters for the residents of the community. Besides that, we actively cooperated with the territorial defense - we tried to fulfill the tasks set before us by the management of the TRO. In particular, the commander of the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade came to us and we inspected the location where the TRO troops were supposed to be stationed. They also worked on the creation of voluntary civilian formations.

On February 21 [2022], heads of communities were invited to the Security Forum in Kyiv regarding the matter of territorial defense. After returning from the capital, I understood that something would start soon, so we began the work immediately. I set three goals for myself: assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reception of people arriving from territories where hostilities continue, and  protection of the civilian population.

Since you mentioned assistance to internally displaced persons, it would be relevant to clarify how many