What happens after a male or female veteran decides to return to work? Searching for a vacancy is only part of this journey. Professional reorientation and adaptation in the new workplace remain no less important. It was a comprehensive approach to the career integration of male and female veterans that became the focus of a working meeting held by the Rokada charitable foundation together with the public organization Bevar Ukraine in Lviv.
The discussion was joined by representatives of Vestas Ukraine, GoodValley, Starlight Media, Lviv Defense Cluster, and Hostynets, as well as regional authorities, veteran communities, the public sector, and international partners.
“We have united different teams from different spheres in order to analyze the challenges together and find sustainable solutions, and at the same time signal to local authorities our readiness to be alongside them in implementing changes.”
Currently, the most relevant requests from veterans relate to changing professions or returning to their previous field, adaptation after employment, preparing the collective and creating a comfortable environment for everyone, and organizing interaction with specialists if legal, social, or psychological requests arise.
During seven months of work in the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, the Rokada team held 320 events in 46 communities, joined by 3,205 people, including 1,482 veterans.
“It is important to understand that the process of reintegrating veterans involves not only state-owned or municipal enterprises and civic organizations but also the business sector,” notes Hlib Stryzhko, Director of Veteran Affairs at Starlight Media. “In particular, the private sector can get involved through partnership projects, corporate social responsibility, and initiatives that create new opportunities for people.”
Among the participants of the meeting is also Liubov Vasyliv – the head of the Veteran PRO space and the founder and head of the public organization Angels’ Wives in Ivano-Frankivsk. The community has been facilitating the reintegration of male and female veterans for more than a year.
“Our experience working with veterans shows that they need support and guidance in finding employment,” says Liubov Vasyliv. “We must understand that this is a vital component of adapting after returning to civilian life. It means self-realization, it means financial independence… Therefore, focusing on this issue, focusing on cooperation and broad involvement is what should unite Ukrainian society around one of the largest categories of citizens in the near future.”
The Rokada Charity Foundation, the non-governmental organization Bevar Ukraine, and Vestas Ukraine have signed a memorandum aimed at strengthening legal support for veterans and exploring ways to assist the veteran center in Lviv.
The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Bevar Ukraine non-governmental organization, with the support of CISU – an organization through which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark funds and supports civil society projects in the field of international development and partnership.
