Link platform as a joint effort to effectively respond to the challenges of the affected communities of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts

Publication date: January 3, 2024

Oksana Riabchun, Communications Manager, Legal Development Network

The supporting wall of the house was destroyed, and they came to install new windows. As a result, the house is still in the database for restoration. This is how the head of one of the communities in the Mykolaiv oblast described the situation with insufficient coordination of assistance. How to effectively collect information about the communities’ needs and how to use the Link platform? The event participants discussed these questions in Mykolaiv on December 22nd: “Effective coordination of humanitarian aid: is it possible in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts?”. The Legal Development Network (LDN) presented the Link coordination mechanism achievements. 

About 100 representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs), authorities, and territorial communities of Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts participated in the discussion. The main points of the discussion are described below.

“The initiative has two main areas of work: humanitarian response and community development. The Link platform will contribute to the success of both. This tool aims to create links between the needs of remote and affected settlements and those who can meet them,” said Olga Nastina, Executive Director of the Legal Development Network.

Since September, the LDN has been working with the Czech humanitarian organization People In Need, with funding from the UK government, on a project to promote international humanitarian law and facilitate an effective humanitarian response in Ukraine.

A similar initiative has been implemented in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia oblasts since 2022.

Link as a solution for community needs

Since the mechanism’s launch, a team of seven local experts has been able to collect and process needs in 115 settlements in 11 municipalities in 2.5 months. By verifying needs from multiple sources, the specialists identified needs that had already been met or needed to be updated and new actors in the humanitarian process in the community that were not previously known. This usually takes a lot of time and effort due to the threat of shelling, impassable roads, destroyed bridges, and disrupted communications.

Timur Kanataiev, LDN’s Program Director, spoke about the priorities of the work and the challenges of coordinating efforts. These include the public’s low level of trust in any mechanism to assess their needs, insufficient coordination between humanitarian missions and local governments, and the fact that newly identified needs are met on a backlog basis at the end of the year.

“Our task was to verify the needs, i.e. to check the information from different sources to understand if this need has not been addressed and taken into account by anyone and how to respond quickly. Coordination is all about efficiency. For example, when we contacted a community that was previously in need of slate, we found that the walls of these houses already needed repair. We are not providing aid but facilitating connections between community members and humanitarian aid providers,” said Timur Kanataiev, LDN’s Program Director.

Examples of community need verification (duration – from one week to 2.5 months)

“Our community receives extensive aid. However, there is a lack of feedback between the local authorities and the aid organizations. There are times when we have talked and identified some areas of work. Only later do we find out that the agreements are not implemented by the organization but directly by the people. It is often difficult to determine what kind of organization it is because the residents do not ask who is helping them. Our community also lacks flexible resources that can be used to solve many problems,” said Valerii Lishchuk, deputy head of Pervomaisk village (Mykolaiv oblast).

The Link mechanism helps humanitarian organizations, residents, and community leaders understand current affairs. An automated IT solution will be developed based on the data collected – a unified system of verified needs. It considers the experience of existing information systems for coordinating humanitarian responses without duplicating them.

Vitalii Okhrimenko, Strategic Development Director at the LDN, emphasizes that the initiative aims to help communities become more self-reliant and better manage their humanitarian needs.

“We ask the community if they know who can meet their needs. The community should be informed about who works with them in this area if they have been contacted. On the one hand, we empower communities in humanitarian response, helping them quickly identify and respond to unnoticed needs. On the other hand, we want to provide humanitarian clusters with a more effective mechanism for identifying unmet humanitarian needs. This is a tool for policymakers, activists, community members, and, last but not least, humanitarian aid providers,” said Vitalii Okhrimenko.

Unseen community needs and recovery requests

Link is a response to the challenges of coordinating the humanitarian response in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts and a platform for joining efforts to support communities. In December 2023 and January 2024, sessions to develop and update recovery and socio-economic development strategies were held in Shevchenkove, Mishkovo-Pohorilove communities in Mykolaiv oblast and Bilozerka community in Kherson oblast.

During his speech, Oleh Pylypenko, head of the Shevchenkove community (Mykolaiv oblast), noted that having a strategy makes communication with donors effective.

“With a strategy, you can clearly say what resources you need and your human potential. Otherwise, at least for now, you can only get food parcels, which is a road to nowhere. On the other hand, the population needs a water supply system as soon as possible. We need to understand how quickly and who can help in these situations. Donors form their perceptions of us. We have to become the community they want to work with,” he urged.

“Bilozerka and eight other community villages are located in the area of active hostilities along the Dnipro River. Every day, we are under fire – artillery, mortars, multiple rocket launchers. We understand that we have many problems. But we are also thinking about recovery, developing a community development strategy for 2024-2027, and living the dream that we will have life and that the community’s residents will return. Half the community’s residents, about 10,000, 80% elderly, remained there. During the recent attack, the only large store was destroyed. We need quick repairs. However, the aid brought by humanitarian organizations is limited in quantity and cannot be delivered as quickly as needed. To fully meet the needs, it is necessary to reserve aid and not create crowds during distribution. This is dangerous in our community,” said Ihor Ostrivnyi, Bilozerka community head (Kherson oblast).

Vadym Zhepalo, regional coordinator of the initiative in the Mykolaiv oblast, emphasized the importance of coordination not only at the community level but also at the state level, not only in humanitarian response.

“We are launching the work of psychologists and lawyers as part of the initiative. They will study the needs of communities in obtaining legal and psychological assistance, including the quality of services already provided,” said Vadym Zhepalo.

Oksana Tropina, regional coordinator of the initiative in the Kherson region, added that due to shelling and impassable roads, verification of needs is mainly done by phone. “From now on, we will try to go to the community and every settlement. No one has taught people how to collect needs. We have to highlight this problem and work with it,” she said. 

Unique needs of each community

Vitalii Okhrimenko, LDNʼs Strategic Development Director, noted that the needs of communities do not always reflect the actual situation. Then, they have to be clarified. For example, in some villages, residents expressed many needs, while in others, they expressed fewer. They have similar situations, particularly about educational tablets, but they simply did not state this in some villages. The analysis of the collected database also showed that some requests for firewood for heating were not fulfilled.

A database is being formed, including community catalogs with verified information about residents and community contacts. It is planned to cover all settlements of the de-occupied communities of Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts and create special offices for them on the platform to monitor the situation. 

During the discussion, representatives of the communities confirmed the importance of verifying and clarifying information about their needs.

Community representatives emphasized the significant shortage of qualified professionals who could perform highly specialized work. For example, the head of the Bilozerka community (Kherson oblast) complained that drawing up acts of destruction was impossible without an architect. Residents need to figure out where to turn to solve the problem. Representatives of the Bereznehuvate community (Mykolaiv oblast) noted that they need building materials and projects to create jobs so people will return. A representative of the Halytsynove community (Mykolaiv oblast) said that residents cannot get help for 12 houses because they do not have documents. They need legal and psychological assistance because people are scared because of the shelling. Dariivka community (Kherson oblast) also suffers from shelling. However, the community has valuable experience that it is ready to share. They have introduced a “recovery army” to officially employ those who clear the rubble after shelling and help people with disabilities. Community representatives spoke about the need for flexible projects that include employment of residents as well as rapid housing reconstruction, particularly in areas currently affected by the hostilities nearby.

“Sometimes, due to certain conflicts in the village, not everyone is provided with humanitarian aid. Such things are noticeable when you work nearby. We find people who need emergency medical care. The Link mechanism allows us to see the needs that are not noticed by others, so we do not duplicate but strengthen the closure of needs in communities. Through the Link platform, we want to develop coordination, legal protection, and opportunities for flexible projects, such as a social kitchen for the elderly. We can provide analytics for donors, help communities better interact with the cluster system, and strengthen the capacity of local initiative groups and local authorities to manage their humanitarian needs better”, summarized Vitalii Okhrimenko, Strategic Development Director at the LDN.

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