“I sincerely hope this space will be useful for the community and bring many positive changes” – David Starke
The official opening of the “Heart of the Community” Resilience Hub took place in Novyi Buh, Mykolaiv region. The project was made possible thanks to the Rokada team and partners AWO International.
The hub’s construction was completed last year. This year it was further equipped to expand opportunities to support the community.
The space is inclusive and also adapted for people with small children: it has a baby changing table, and a children’s room will open soon.
The hub’s main focus is stimulating the agricultural potential of Novyi Buh. For this purpose, professional courses in growing seedlings in greenhouses recently started for residents.
But the new venue also has other areas that will help people gain new knowledge and skills.
“Our mission, the mission of the Resilience Hub, is for the community to develop and for its residents to have opportunities to improve their well-being. First and foremost, this means learning a new trade that will encourage residents to start their own business or reshape their professional path into something new,” notes Kateryna Matsko, coordinator of Rokada’s regional office.
So, in addition to mastering greenhouse farming, people at the hub can also learn baking, gain a new trade in the sewing workshop, master 3D printing and more.
The opening of the Resilience Hub was an important event for the community and brought together Rokada’s partners, officials and residents themselves.
“I am extremely glad that the hub has started working. It is impressive how this place has changed – how much life, energy and opportunity there is here now. I sincerely hope this space will be useful for the community and bring many positive changes,” said David Starke, representative of Rokada’s partner AWO International.
Among the various areas, he was perhaps most interested in the greenhouse, where practical classes on growing seedlings were under way. So David Starke was invited to sow some dill.
“I will definitely come back in summer to see the result,” the AWO International representative added.
Residents themselves are no less pleased with the Resilience Hub and have high hopes for it. They already call it a space of opportunity.
“I would like the hub to really help us in these difficult times. I will definitely come to the sewing courses, because having a practical profession is very relevant now, as reality shows,” admits Anastasiia, a resident of Novyi Buh.
The project “Building Resilience and Assisting Vulnerable Individuals and Organisations in Southern Ukraine (BRAVE)” is implemented by the Rokada Charitable Foundation with the support of AWO International and funded by German Cooperation and Aktion Deutschland Hilft.
