Strategizing as a response to the conscious request of the de-occupied communities of Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts

Publication date: January 18, 2024

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

Since September 2023, the Legal Development Network, together with the Czech humanitarian organization People In Need, has been implementing the project “Supporting volunteer groups on the front line, promoting international humanitarian law and facilitating an effective humanitarian response in Ukraine” with the financial support of the UK government.

A coordination mechanism Link for responding to humanitarian challenges in Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts has been established as part of the initiative.

To strengthen the capacity of the de-occupied and most affected communities to coordinate and recover, one of the components was the development of strategic development plans for the Mishkovo-Pohorilivska and Shevchenkivska communities in Mykolaiv Oblast and Bilozerska in Kherson Oblast.

The strategy was developed in several stages. The first was in-depth interviews with key representatives of various spheres of the community. In total, more than 10 local leaders participated.

The second was a five-day session in the following areas: community governance, development of economic potential, social sphere, education and healthcare, development of local democracy and human capital of the community. More than 300 people from among internally displaced persons, representatives of education, healthcare, economy, and the public sector were involved in this process.

The next step is a two-day strategic planning session to summarize the findings and develop priority actions.

About the approach

In most cases, research is conducted before strategies are developed. Based on its findings, a wide range of experts from various fields advised the local authorities on how to achieve results. However, a different approach was needed for the affected communities, which are overcoming the challenges of a full-scale war on a daily basis.

“We immediately made it clear that we were not imposing anything, but only helping to develop this strategy. The priority was to understand how the community lives today and how it sees its future.

At the beginning, we conducted in-depth interviews with key representatives from various fields. I was careful not to let my opinion as a facilitator influence the process. Participants for the facilitation sessions were selected by local governments. These were not “comfortable” people, but those who, from their point of view, were capable of participating in strategic planning,” says Ruslan Bakhtyiev, PhD in Political Science, head of the Garnet Social Technology Studio, who facilitated the development of strategic plans in the Shevchenkivska community of Mykolaiv Oblast and Bilozerska community of Kherson Oblast.

The strategy was developed in response to a conscious request from the communities in the face of complete uncertainty. Therefore, in order to understand where to go next, and not just to solve urgent issues, it was necessary to structure their activities. It was necessary to find answers to key development issues, and to ensure that this understanding was shared not only by the community leadership, but also by all those interested in implementing strategic planning.

“This is also a unique approach. We developed five strategies by area because we did not want to lose information. We didn’t work according to a template, but used the tools that were needed during the meetings, taking into account the specifics of the areas. During the facilitated meetings, we worked out how the authorities; the economic sector; the social sector; the humanitarian sector; civil society and internally displaced persons see community development. In the classical approach, the first three groups and the first three areas are taken into account. But we decided to involve civil society and IDPs. The IDPs in Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts are different from those who moved to western Ukraine. In most cases, they have moved from one settlement to another within the same or neighboring communities, which are safer,” Ruslan Bakhtyiev said.

After five facilitation meetings, this material was summarized and visualized. The findings became the basis for bringing all the groups together and moving on to holistic planning.

“It was noticeable that during the facilitation sessions, a dialog was created between different spheres of community life. Another important point is that, as a rule, communities develop only a vision of their development. Here we went deeper and helped to develop a mission. This way, communities focus their request for strategy development,” says Ruslan Bakhtyiev.

The next step will be to conduct trainings on strategy implementation. During these trainings, those who will implement the plan will gain skills in how to use the strategic plan. After the training, the strategy will be finalized.

“It is not the document itself that is important, but the fact that all parties have the same vision of development and understand that the interests of others must be taken into account.

If I think only about my interests and develop only one area, and I am not interested in everything else, such a strategy will not be viable. Representatives of the communities have finally realized this,” Ruslan Bakhtyiev said.

Sociology in strategic planning

To understand the extent to which the developed strategic plan is understandable to community residents and whether it receives support, a representative sociological survey will be conducted among residents of each community.

“We have turned the development of strategic plans into a questionnaire. This way, residents of each community will be able to give feedback on what is important to them.

We will also conduct an online survey among those community members who have left since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, as well as among potential specialists the community needs, to involve them in the recovery,” said Vitaliy Okhrimenko, Director of Strategic Development.

The surveys are conducted by experienced sociologists in teams with specially trained interviewers from the community, which increases people’s trust in the survey process.

The data collection is expected to be completed in the second half of January 2024.

“If there are discrepancies, in my opinion, this may indicate a gap in communication between the local government and the community. We will need to work on this and explain what this strategy is for, what to do with it, why it is in this form. We have taken an unconventional approach to this issue. When I look at previous strategies for the socio-economic development of communities, for example, they are powerful, correct and methodically developed documents. But ours will have a more living force that fills the community. It seems to me that it is better to respond to life than to force life into some rigid framework,” Ruslan Bakhtyiev said.

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