For ten months, the team of the project “Voice of IDP Councils: Mentoring and Legal Support to Strengthen the Influence of IDP Councils in Communities” worked with 18 IDP Councils, providing them with mentoring, legal and advocacy support. The initiative, implemented by the Rokada Charitable Foundation with financial support from the International Renaissance Foundation, covered communities in Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil and Chernivtsi regions.
Council members involved in the training mastered fundraising and project management, developed skills in effective communication with stakeholders, mediation, and assessing the needs of IDPs and communities, and learned to turn this data into management decisions. Considerable attention was paid to developing partnerships and volunteering, strengthening teamwork and increasing the motivation of Council members.
Events held by Rokada mentors for IDP Council members were also aimed at sharing experience and supporting the implementation of advocacy initiatives. The total number of participants was 1,380.
Legal support was a separate area of work. Within the project, the Foundation’s lawyers held 161 advocacy training sessions, during which participants gained practical knowledge about protecting the rights of IDPs, interacting with authorities and influencing decision-making processes. In total, 944 participants took part in the training.
IDP Councils received legal support for their advocacy efforts, including consultations on the legal regulation of housing issues, preparation of the necessary documents and recommendations on interacting with authorities. In total, during the project IDP Councils received 659 consultations and instances of legal support.
Systematic organisational and legal support enabled IDP Councils to move from identifying problems to solving them effectively. Within the project, 12 dialogue meetings were held with representatives of local self-government, Administrative Service Centres and civil society. This contributed to building partnerships and implementing 22 local advocacy initiatives.
One of the most pressing problems that IDP Councils helped to address remains the creation of a housing fund for the temporary accommodation of internally displaced people. With the support of the project team, the IDP Councils of the Zhovkva, Sokal and Stryi communities in Lviv region; the Berezne, Dubno and Dubrovytsia communities in Rivne region; the Vyshnivets and Kremenets communities in Ternopil region; and the Vikno and Velykyi Kuchuriv communities in Chernivtsi region developed and are implementing relevant initiatives aimed at gradually solving the housing issues of internally displaced people.
The IDP Councils of the Mamaivtsi community in Chernivtsi region and the Kozova community in Ternopil region addressed the systemic problem of the lack of local regulations recognising internally displaced people as full members of the community and their participation in local democracy mechanisms. In particular, they initiated updates to community statutes to include mechanisms for IDP participation in local self-government, which opens up new opportunities for their integration and influence on local policy.
Another telling example of support for IDPs is the Vyshnivka community in Volyn region, where the IDP Council, in cooperation with the Resilience Centre, achieved amendments to the Social Protection Programme: a one-time cash payment was introduced for IDPs to improve their living conditions in the autumn and winter period. In the Shatsk community of Volyn region, at the initiative of the IDP Council, transport links between the community’s settlements and the town of Shatsk were restored, significantly improving access to services and employment opportunities. In the Kamin-Kashyrskyi community of Volyn region, the IDP Council achieved the creation of the “Community Clothing Bank” social space – a permanent point for collecting, sorting and handing over clothes, shoes and household items free of charge to internally displaced people and other socially vulnerable groups.
In the Kosiv community of Ivano-Frankivsk region, the IDP Council initiated a mechanism for assessing the needs of IDPs that provides for systematic data collection and analysis. As a result, these approaches were enshrined in a local regulation and integrated into the local Programme for Support and Social Adaptation of IDPs for 2026–2028.
An important component of the support programme was a set of comprehensive training activities aimed at developing effective communication skills, actively engaging the public in the work of IDP Councils and building sustainable communication practices.
As a result of this joint work, Councils from different communities presented their information campaign cases. A vote was held on Rokada’s social media pages to identify those with the greatest impact, relevance and potential for the community. The winners – the IDP Council under the Kosiv City Council of Ivano-Frankivsk region, the IDP Council under the Kozova Settlement Council of Ternopil region and the IDP Council under the Executive Committee of the Velykyi Kuchuriv Village Council of Chernivtsi region – received professional filming of information videos and additional coverage of their cases in the communication guide “Communication that Amplifies the Voice”. You can find the guide and learn about the work of these IDP Councils in the “Expert materials” section.
“A survey of the 18 IDP Councils conducted at the end of the project made it possible to assess the results and showed that during its implementation their level of activity grew by an average of 35–40%. This confirms the formation of sustainable work processes, stronger teams, greater initiative among participants and a shift towards more systematic planning of activities and interaction with communities. As a result, the Councils were able not only to identify problems but also to effectively advocate for the interests of IDPs through concrete advocacy initiatives. In addition, we managed to help the Councils establish and strengthen cooperation with authorities and partners, which increased their influence on policy-making in the field of IDP rights protection. I am deeply grateful to the Rokada team, our partners and the International Renaissance Foundation for their consistent support and trust. This project not only marked the completion of an important stage of work but also opened up new opportunities for development, creating a solid foundation for future strategic decisions and initiatives that we intend to implement,” concluded Project Manager Olena Moshak.
