Community Development Strategy in Time of War: Why Plan for the Future in the Face of Uncertainty

Publication date: January 24, 2025

Author: Halyna Kolesnyk, Head of the Communication Cluster of the Legal Development Network

In 2023, the Legal Development Network, in partnership with the Czech humanitarian organization Man in Need and with funding from the UK government, helped the Shevchenkivska, Mishkovo-Pohorilivska communities of Mykolaiv Oblast and Bilozerska community of Kherson Oblast to develop recovery and development strategies. And in 2024, it strengthened their capacity to implement them and, at the same time, better manage their humanitarian needs.

“For us, recovery projects are not just about physical reconstruction. It is about strengthening the capacity of local communities in various aspects and enhancing their role in the humanitarian response as a whole,” says Kateryna Matsienko, Resilience and Recovery Coordinator at the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need .

Strategy as a tool for stabilization

“The strategy matters even under martial law because it is not just a formal document. It is a tool to adaptively manage the stabilization of the situation and community development. We have come to the conclusion that sustainable community development depends on the extent to which the tools and approaches we have jointly developed are assimilated and will be used in the future. If communities have acquired practical skills adapted to their realities and have clear action plans, they will be able to continue implementing these solutions on their own. The main thing is to create conditions under which these tools will remain understandable, accessible and useful for their daily work,” explains Svitlana Seldina, strategic planning and management expert .

According to her, it is important to properly allocate limited resources in unstable conditions. Without a strategy, the community risks being overlooked by key stakeholders, as major partners, donors, and international technical support programs pay attention primarily to whether the community has a vision and priorities.

Experts of the Legal Development Network have identified several key stages that de-occupied communities located near the front line should take into account:

1. Determining the availability of housing, access to water, electricity, healthcare, and food.
2. Coordination of resources, including cooperation with government programs, both through subventions and international donors in the process of restoring homes and property.
3. Investing in community resilience.

“Along with meeting the immediate needs, it is also necessary to develop local authorities, improve the skills of staff and involve the community in decision-making on how these resources should be redistributed ,” says Svitlana Seldina.

The expert also spoke about the practical experience of implementing strategic changes.

Practical experience

Mishkovo-Pohorilivska community

“In the Mishkovo-Pohorilivska community, a working group of local government representatives was created. We jointly monitored the strategy, analyzed the relevance of the operational goals and objectives that were laid down in this strategy,” says Svitlana Seldina.

The process of adapting the strategy included several important stages:

• Determining the list of documents to be updated in accordance with martial law
• Checking the compliance of the community strategy with higher-level documents
• Alignment of development directions with the national and regional strategies.

“If we are talking about the result of such a complex, extensive work, it is also the formation of a team that has learned to flexibly analyze, adjust, verify priorities and adapt the strategy to the needs and challenges that arise,” emphasizes Svitlana Seldina.

Practical tools

An important element of the work was the creation of project cards, which allowed us to structure all the information about the initiatives and tasks to be implemented, about each stage to be implemented.

“The sources of funding to implement these projects have been thought out accordingly,” explains the expert.

Particular attention was paid to communication between the authorities and community members.

“The communication system between the authorities and community members was also identified as one of the priority goals of the community strategy,” notes Svitlana Seldina.

Volodymyr Feskov, an expert on access to public information, was engaged to help implement this task and help introduce the principles of open governance in the community. This experience demonstrates how a development strategy can be effectively adapted to martial law conditions while strengthening the capacity of the local team and improving communication with the community.

Volodymyr Feskov notes the growing interest of communities in increasing transparency. However, they don’t have enough time and resources to transform quickly, to deal with new legislation, to analyze their experience and best practices of interaction with the community. This is because they face a lot of current challenges.

Theexpert talks about the beginning of work with the Mishkovo-Pohorilivska community: “Our first joint meeting was attended by all the key employees of the village council’s staff, in addition to the head of the community. We agreed that continuous access of citizens to public information, ensuring transparency in the use of budget funds, management of community resources, introduction of modern technologies, tools for communication with residents and involvement of them in local decision-making are important.”

The process of implementing changes

The work included:

1. Audit of existing regulations to understand everything that currently needs to be modernized due to changes in legislation, existing best practices, and what needs to be implemented due to the need to have effective tools.

2. Analysis of key areas. Based on the results of the audit, an analytical report was prepared covering five key areas:

• Local government websites and ways of publishing information
• Procedures for publishing decisions
• Video recording and publication of meeting records
• Tools of local democracy
• Access to public information

1. Practical implementation.

“To increase the effectiveness of implementation, we held thematic meetings on each of the parts to discuss each item with employees, answer their key questions, and help develop a plan of further actions to improve specific documents,” says Volodymyr Feskov.

The expert notes that, in the end, transparency in decision-making, openness in terms of spending, access to public information, use of budget funds and other resources will give community residents additional control. This will strengthen not only the image of local self-government, but will also help to attract local residents, activists, and, of course, international financial assistance.

Shevchenkivska community

One of the most affected by Russian aggression since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some of the settlements were under occupation, while the front line passed through other settlements, leading to constant shelling and significant destruction.

One of the areas of work supporting the implementation of the strategy was the development of a community investment passport

“Together with representatives of the local government, we agreed on the structure of the document, provided a comprehensive analysis of both the situation in the community and, accordingly, the regulatory framework and practices that exist in Ukraine for the development of such documents,” says Svitlana Seldina.

Both Ukrainian and English versions of the investment passport were developed, which reflects the infrastructure, demographic, and economic advantages of the community.

An important component of the strategic planning was to streamline social housing issues

“We also analyzed in detail the specifics of the community in the field of social housing, all the needs related to the creation of places of compact residence. We also paid special attention to the issues of lease, transfer of property to operational management, and formation of a social housing stock,” says Svitlana Seldina.

Experts have developed a package of organizational and administrative documentation that not only meets all the legal requirements of the regulatory framework, but is also focused on practical use It allows the community to effectively manage the housing stock, respond to the needs of internally displaced persons and local residents who need access to housing, and optimize financial resources.

Another achievement for the community was the development of a strategic environmental assessment, which expert Taras Rashkevych helped to develop .

“Environmental assessment does not provide an answer to improving the environmental situation. It provides an opportunity to prevent the deterioration of the situation for the environment and public health,” says Taras Rashkevych.

Principles and purpose of the assessment

“The purpose of the assessment is to promote sustainable development, ensure public health and safety,” the expert emphasizes .

The process is based on principles:

• Transparency
• Public involvement
• Prevention of environmental damage.

The strategic and environmental assessment began to be developed on November 22, 2024, and on December 19, the finished document was posted in the Unified State Register of Strategic and Environmental Assessment. The process included:

• Creation of a working group
• Involvement of the public
• Publication of documents in the state register
• Organization of a public discussion.

A special feature of the work with the Shevchenkivska community was its quality.

“In my practice, this is the first time that the regional ecology department did not provide any comments or suggestions for inclusion in the strategy and the strategic environmental assessment,” says Rashkevych.

In addition, one of the priorities of the Shevchenkivska community was the creation of an administrative service center for local residents and internally displaced persons. Although the occupation and shelling prevented the implementation of this plan at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the community did not stop working to improve access to administrative services.

In the photo: Serhiy Yatsyk , an expert on administrative service delivery, during a training session with the Shevchenkivska community. November 2024

Serhiy Yatsyk , an expert on administrative service delivery, talks about the peculiarities of implementing a modern system of service delivery in the community.

“We worked in an evolutionary way, when we gradually show the community the best practices, as it already works in other communities,” the expert notes.

In October 2024, the communities visited administrative service centers in the Dnipro region and were subsequently trained on how to set up such centers.

“We conducted a service design, where we realized that the main thing in the field of administrative service provision is a resident, a community resident, and we start from them, from their needs,” emphasizes Serhiy Yatsyk.

For the administrative service system to work effectively, it needs

• Personnel to cover various areas of administrative services, from social services to state registration of real estate and business
• Institutional support in terms of documentation – work regulations, work schedule, job descriptions
• Funding, as it is necessary to provide technical means, support for registries, etc.

“When we were conducting the service design, representatives of the Shevchenkivska community said that they were not a typical community. They plan to establish an ASC in the central estate, remote workplaces, and launch a mobile ASC,” says Serhiy Yatsyk.

Bilozerska community

The Bilozerska community is also an example of hard work to restore and adapt services to new challenges. Having an existing ASC, the community not only resumed its work after the de-occupation, but also directed all its efforts to build access to administrative services in remote settlements of the community.

Svitlana Seldina emphasizes the social component of this work: “Special attention was paid to the integration of social services, ensuring our own inclusiveness in providing services to all categories of citizens. This was a very important step in improving the lives of residents.”

In the fall of 2024, the Bilozerska community began cooperation with the Legal Development Network to improve the administrative service delivery system.

Natalia Chuyko, an expert, describes the comprehensive approach to this process: “Together with the community team, we designed the development of administrative services, analyzed the weaknesses and strengths in the current system of service delivery in the community, identified challenges and opportunities. Thanks to this, we were able to identify a list of strategic areas in which to develop and outline the priority needs to ensure capacity.”

This approach allows not only to solve current problems but also to lay the foundation for sustainable development for years to come.

“For the de-occupied communities, the implementation of the strategy is invaluable, as it forms the long-term sustainability and the basis for community self-sufficiency. It is important to work with strategies that combine both humanitarian response and economic development so that our communities have not only the means to survive, but also real prospects for prosperity,” emphasizes Svitlana Seldina, strategic planning and management expert .

Community development through people development: a comprehensive approach to learning

Iryna Chaika , a consultant on strengthening communities and communities, Director of Organizational Development at the YES, emphasizes a human-centered approach to the development of territorial communities:

“Territorial communities are, first and foremost, people. We can talk a lot about territories, strategic documents, infrastructure restoration, and anything else, but we always talk about people first,” emphasizes the expert.

According to her, the work in the south of Ukraine is aimed at strengthening the capacity of communities in two areas:

• Professional development to fulfill strategic tasks
• Psychological support and mental health

“Until February 2022, we didn’t think much about the fact that we would have to think more about psychological support than physical condition,” says Iryna Chaika.

The 2023-2024 curriculum covered various aspects of development:

1. Practical skills

“For example, we recently completed training for the community on spatial planning, which opened up a vision of what needs to be done next year to be effective in the recovery process,” says Iryna Chaika.

1. Soft skills for all stakeholders:

• Communication with the affected population
• Leadership development
• Negotiation skills
• Building partnerships

“We translate the tools needed to develop a particular component into the specifics of how teams live. If it is a Link team, we understand how it functions and we adapt all practical cases to make leadership clear and useful for Link representatives. If it is local government, we take into account the needs of local governments, ” says Iryna Chaika.

This comprehensive approach to training and development helps communities not only implement strategic plans, but also build sustainable teams capable of working effectively in difficult conditions.

A special feature of team support was the development of a unique resilience support program for communities in the South, which was created in 2023 based on the community profile.

Svitlana Savchuk, a resilience expert, business consultant, and trainer, presents her view on developing community resilience in times of war.

“We have gotten acquainted with the concept that we already need not just resilience, but ultra-resilience. And the source of ultra-resilience cannot be a single person… the source of resilience and ultra-resilience is the community,” explains the expert.

According to Svitlana Savchuk, the community is a prototype of safe attachment: “A community can be a territory, a place where people can feel safe. And security is now the basic need of any person, any community. It is on the territory of the community that people can feel safe when there is mutual care, when there is respect, when there is support, when there is respect for dignity and freedom.

In times of uncertainty, create together, organize islands of clarity, transparency, and planning. It can be through certain programs that will make clear, transparent, and visible to everyone the processes of distribution of humanitarian flows, areas of responsibility, and planning, even in conditions when everything can change today.”

How communities can communicate strategies

Another tool for involving community residents in the implementation of recovery and development strategies is the introduction of communication campaigns.

According to Bohdana Ostapyk, a communications expert and head of Barbaro Agency, an important trend was identified during the field research: “We have identified a huge need in both Kherson and Mykolaiv regions – people want to be involved in the processes. They don’t need to understand every detailed step-by-step plan of how it will happen. They just want to have a sense of community.”

The expert outlines the key areas of work:

• Simplifying communication about assistance to residents
• Developing self-employment and microbusinesses
• Supporting cohesion through cultural initiatives

“Together with the Legal Development Network, we tried to change the approach to communicating the strategy in communities so that the strategy was not a separate object to be communicated, but was part of daily work,” the expert concludes .

Among the implemented tools:

• Unified design templates for important messages
• Working with a psychologist to create crisis communications
• Systematic approach to fundraising
• Communication trainings
• Support for cultural initiatives

This comprehensive approach helps to make the community development strategy understandable and accessible to all its residents.

“In 2025, we will focus on ensuring that all the hard skills we develop together with communities take into account the extent to which community staff, residents, and everyone involved in activities have sufficient resources and motivation to implement the tasks,” says Iryna Chaika.

This year will be the final year of comprehensive community support.

“We would really like to provide communities with maximum preparation for the next few years through the mentoring support we will provide throughout 2025. This will allow us to effectively keep the developed recovery and development strategies up to date and implement them,” concludes Iryna Chaika.

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